The People Powered Hillary Clinton Campaign

In rally after rally in Indiana and North Carolina last week, voters booed and jeered when she mentioned that some Democratic leaders and unfriendly pundits believe she should leave the race.

“There are some people who are saying, you know, we really ought to end this primary, we just ought to shut it down,” Mrs. Clinton told a few thousand people who had gathered in Mishawaka, where a giant “Hoosiers for Hillary” sign served as a backdrop.

“No!” boomed the crowd.

If hopes are diminishing among some supporters of Mrs. Clinton — privately, many concede they do not see a clear mathematical path to winning the nomination — that word has yet to reach the voters here who filled gymnasium after gymnasium on her two-day trip through Indiana. The mood of the rallies and town meetings was far from the grim picture portrayed in the endless whirl of political chatter on cable television.

The people, of distressed communities in particular, want a fighter. They need a fighter.

“I know a little bit about comebacks,” Mrs. Clinton said with a knowing grin. “I know what it’s like to be counted down and counted out. But I also know there is nothing that will keep us down if we are determined to keep on.”

So the senator sought to steer the conversation back to the economy and away from prognostications about her candidacy, which was welcome news to voters, many of whom said they were furious at suggestions that Mrs. Clinton should bow out.

Roberta Weaver drove 90 miles to Fort Wayne from Kokomo and waited outside in 40-degree weather for nearly five hours to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Clinton as she walked into a diner for a discussion about the economy. When Ms. Weaver heard a reporter asking a few folks in the crowd about the outlook for the senator’s candidacy, she jumped in with a scolding.

“No way, no way should she get out of the race,” said Ms. Weaver, a 70-year-old retired nurse. “I think people are deceiving themselves if they think that she can’t win this. She’s stronger and her support is much stronger than what many people think.”

In Nevada Hillary won by going straight to the people, not the Culinary Workers Union whose membership voted for Hillary even though the union supported the unsupportable. In Massachusettes Hillary won by going straight to the people, not Kerry, Kennedy or Governor Patrick. Hillary is people powered. Obama is full of hot air.

While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family have been in Indiana so often they practically qualify as residents, Hoosiers’ best chance so far to see her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, is to turn on their TVs.

Obama, who was the first of the two Democratic presidential contenders to campaign in Indiana, has become the first to begin airing TV ads. His first ad, a 30-second spot focusing on jobs, began running on TV stations statewide this morning.

The ad comes on the first of a two-day campaign swing by Clinton that will take her to Mishawaka, Hammond, Fort Wayne and Muncie today, and Indianapolis and New Albany on Saturday.

By the end of the day Saturday, she, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, will have made a total of 22 campaign stops in 17 Indiana cities. In all, one or more members of the Clinton family will have been in Indiana on seven of 12 days.

Obama? He’s been here once, for a town hall meeting in Plainfield on March 15.

His campaign, though, says he’ll be back often.

Let’s not forget how Hillary won Ohio and Texas – people power. Obama, hot air ads.

Joe Hogsett, the former secretary of state who is heading Clinton’s Indiana campaign, said Clinton’s focus on Indiana shows “that Senator Clinton is going to work very hard in every corner of the state and compete for every Hoosier voter’s support.”

He said that in Ohio, Clinton was outspent 2-to-1 on TV ads by Obama, and by even larger margins in Texas. But Clinton, he noted, won the primaries in both states.

From the blue-collar hamlets of Allegheny County to the faded steel community of Johnstown, some of Obama’s thinnest support is in this region that gave birth to the term “Reagan Democrat” — white, working-class union voters who, in this fierce race for the Democratic presidential nomination, have favored Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in far greater numbers.

So Obama, unknown on the national stage until four years ago, aimed to identify. For the past two days, he’s wrapped himself in the sort of imagery that evokes familiarity with western Pennsylvania voters.

The people of Pennsylvania, post-Wright, see through the flim flam man. These hard working people are not fooled by Obama’s clumsy con man tricks. Read how clumsy Obama is when he is out of the arugula section of the Whole Foods emporium:

With a football tucked under his arm and a “Terrible Towel” in his hand, Obama posed with former Pittsburgh Steelers players Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris at the outset of his tour. He visited with hard-hatted workers at a steel mill and with patrons of a bowling alley. And he stopped by a sports bar Friday night to catch a bit of the NCAA basketball tournament. He sipped a Yuengling beer, but his local knowledge fell short when he confessed he didn’t know much about the regional brew widely consumed in Pennsylvania.

“You know I got a beer down there,” Obama said to a male patron. “What do they call it? A Yuengling?”

The people of Pennsylvania are not drinking the Obama kool-ade. They are drinking a Yuengling. Obama’s “designer beer” comment is so repulsive because it demonstrates how the flim flam man is trying to charm people who are not taken in by his “pose”. Repulsive.

We don’t see why the process should be short-circuited when millions of votes are yet to be cast and two qualified candidates believe themselves to be the best potential Democratic nominee. [snip]

And this contest is far from over. [snip]

One proffered justification for ending the campaign now, in fact, is the assumption that we know pretty much how everything will turn out. Ms. Clinton will win Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama will carry North Carolina and so on. But throughout this campaign, just about everything we’ve “known” has been wrong: Mr. McCain was finished, Ms. Clinton was inevitable, Mr. Obama had New Hampshire locked up. No doubt the Democrats have gotten themselves into a fix with rules that may leave the final decision to unelected superdelegates — but why is the answer to that less democracy? Why not give as many voters as possible a chance?

Maybe some day the Washington Post will come to the defense of Michigan and Florida voters and their right to be heard and to VOTE – or rather have their votes counted.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton brought her Democratic presidential campaign to Kentucky and Southern Indiana yesterday, telling cheering crowds that she knows how to turn the economy around and offering proposals to tackle housing, health care and energy problems. [snip]

“We have too many people who are facing insurmountable costs — gas, utilities, health care, mortgage, you name it,” Clinton said in New Albany. “That’s going to continue to compound our economic challenges. So we have to address these problems. You can’t ignore them.” [snip]

Obama has made only one campaign trip to Indiana and none to Kentucky this year. But his campaign opened a headquarters in Louisville yesterday and is running a commercial in Indiana.

“Fight” we all say.

Clinton supporters said yesterday that they were thrilled she has stayed in the race, despite Obama’s lead in delegates, so that their votes count despite Indiana’s and Kentucky’s late primaries.

“I want to tell her to stick it out to the end,” said Justin Westmoreland of Scottsburg, Ind., who begged the owner of the South Side Inn, one of his relatives, for the chance to attend yesterday’s event. “It’s a really close race.”

At the Manual rally, a hoarse Clinton looked at the crowd of about 2,500 and told them she was glad that she came.

Hillary is people powered because she speaks to the issues:

In her speech, she touched on issues ranging from education to the economy to international affairs.

She called for a new GI Bill to help the soldiers she would bring home from Iraq.

And she called for using money that has gone for tax breaks to oil companies to fund research into alternative energy.

“If you deliver for me, you will be able to count on me to deliver for you,” she told the crowd.

Clinton spoke without notes for 38 minutes and got some of her biggest applause when she promised to help students — many of them arrayed behind her — afford college tuition.

She promised to increase Pell Grants, put more money into need-based aid and resume offering low-interest government loans for students. She noted that she paid just 2 percent interest on her college loan, while some students today pay more than 20 percent.

“I didn’t feel like an indentured servant like a lot of kids do today,” she said.

She also called for a change in the way the federal government builds and maintains infrastructure such as roads, bridges and water and sewage treatment plants.

In recent years, the federal government has scaled back its role in construction and maintenance, relying more on state and local governments to find creative ways to finance such projects.

Kentucky, for example, is considering the possibility of using tolls to build two new Ohio River bridges at Louisville.

“I do not believe the answer to our problems is to sell off our public roads and our public bridges,” she said.

During her speech, she took a jab at Obama, who critics say is an accomplished speaker but has failed to provide policy specifics.

“This election isn’t about the speeches we give, it’s about the solutions we offer,” Clinton said.

But she saved her harshest criticism for President Bush, saying it’s time to move away from “government of the few, by the few, for the few.”

At the round-table discussion in New Albany — where the television lights and sound system tripped the restaurant’s electrical breakers several times — Clinton did as much listening as talking. A group of five Southern Indiana residents had been invited to be part of a panel to tell her their concerns about the economy. [snip]

She outlined proposals to give health insurance to all Americans while limiting premiums to rates that are based on household income. Under her plan, Clinton said, people would pay less and get more coverage.

“It’s morally wrong that people are without any insurance — working people — and I think it is economically nonsensical,” she said.

She said officials in Washington need to “get serious” about solving the nation’s problems.

“We can sit around and wring our hands or we can start solving our problems,” she said.

In a telephone interview Thursday from North Carolina, she said firmly: “There’s still a lot of votes to be counted and voices to be heard before we know who will have the nomination,” that the continuing campaign is strengthening, not weakening, Democratic chances in November, and that “I would certainly welcome” a debate with Barack Obama in Oregon before the state’s May 20 primary.

And she sounds as if nothing’s going to stop her and the Democratic presidential race — after going through Pennsylvania next month and then Indiana and North Carolina — from getting here.

“Part of what you have to do in campaigning for the toughest job in the world is show resilience and keep going,” Clinton said, “and that’s what I’ve done.”

Hillary not only talks about the rights of voters, Hillary is fighting for the rights of voters NOW (in all 10 states yet to vote and in Michigan and Florida).

“From my experience, voters are enjoying this. There’s a lot of excitement,” she says. “I haven’t yet gotten to Oregon, but I’m looking forward to getting there. Everywhere I’ve gone . . . the level of enthusiasm is very high, because this is going to matter and people are going to have their say.”

She cites a recent poll that found “22 percent said Barack should drop out, and 22 percent said I should drop out, and 62 percent said, ‘Let this go on.’ ” [snip]

“I also think that it’s imperative that we figure out how to we’re going to make sure that we don’t disenfranchise Michigan and Florida. I was strongly in favor of letting Michigan re-vote, the Democratic National Committee was as well, and Senator Obama’s campaign was opposed to that.”

Now Michigan and Florida, two states fairly vital to Democratic chances against McCain, are hanging on the edge of irrelevance, or maybe invisibility, at the Democratic convention. This is likely to have a considerably more negative effect on Democratic chances in November than anything Clinton or Obama say about each in April.

Hillary Clinton is a fighter and Americans like fighters. Big Media be damned.

“Obviously, the media counted me out after Iowa, and the voters in New Hampshire said, ‘Not so fast,’ ” Clinton says. “Then I was counted out before Super Tuesday, and the voters said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not how we feel.’ Just recently, Ohio and Texas were watershed elections, and I won both of those. I really feel there’s a disconnect sometimes between the way our elections are reported and the way voters feel about them.”

So she drives on. If it seems that being the first major woman candidate for president has brought some more difficulties, and some easier derision, than 21st-century observers might have anticipated, Clinton is more into resilience than reflection.

“I’m sure I’ll have time to reflect on that at some point,” she says to the question. “. . . But I do often think about that wonderful saying that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels . . .

“I have found this campaign personally very rewarding. I often refer to my mother, who was born before women could vote, who lived with us, and just the whole concept of my being one of the two people who could be the Democratic nominee for president is extraordinary.”

Just now, however, she’s not about to shut things down and settle for that.

sometimes i am down about this campaign, but i never give up,
cause i know one thing
HILLARY IS FASTER, SMARTER, TOUGHER AND STRONGER, than obama.

and people who love her, ARE TOO…
obama kids have nothing on us. we will wait em out, we will be clever, wise, persistent, and sly, but more important, we wont take no for an answer, we will never give up…

Obama’s attempt to narrow the democratic field by getting other candidates to quit has succeeded. Mike Gravel has quit the race, and the Democratic Party.

As for Hillary Clinton- she’s going to press on with the people behind her! GO HILLARY!

great post admin. Lets keep up the hard work of letting the people know whats going on by phone banking, calling, investigating, reporting and blogging.
Obama? he’s running out of hot air- like a sad ballloon after the party is over.

WASHINGTON – Call her a Honky Tonk Woman: Hillary Rodham Clinton is a big fan of the Rolling Stones.

Speaking to reporters aboard her campaign plane Sunday morning, the Democratic presidential contender said she was eager to see “Shine a Light,” the new documentary about the legendary rock band that was directed by Martin Scorsese and opens Friday.

Clinton said she attended her first Stones show as a high school senior in 1965, and has seen them a few times since then.

She praised Mick Jagger, the band’s 64-year-old lead singer, and said she admires his work ethic.

“If you go to a Stones concert today and I have been, it’s just amazing,” Clinton said. “He has this incredible presence. He is very disciplined, he works out, and he’s incredibly devoted to what he does.”

The film, chronicling a Stones performance at the New York’s Beacon Theatre in fall 2006, even features a clip of guitarist Keith Richards meeting Clinton’s 88-year-old-mother, Dorothy Rodham.

The Clinton Foundation, the former president’s philanthropic effort, held a fundraiser during one of the concerts.

Clinton said her mother is an even bigger fan of the Stones.

“I thought she was going to just levitate,” Clinton said of introducing Rodham to Richards and Jagger.

and women are getting their men on board too! I’ve just got off the phone with on of my church peeps..republican to the core and guess what she voted for Hillary and is supporting her “secretly” .. she said lots of the woman in my church are ‘secret” Hillary supporters! She’s down on the media as well, saying they are bunch of turds to the hole. I told her to go to her website and donate if she can

It’s so weird the way Obama supporters act as if disenfranchising two major states (as if it would be less offensive to disenfranchise smaller states) is the high-minded thing to do. That tut tut tutting they’re all doing at the very notion of counting all the votes is so….well, Republican.

Boy, whenever someone starts saying, “rule of law, rule of law”, you know they are up to no good.

If for nothing else it will give me great pleasure to FU to the whole party if they keep sending out insulting old men to tell her to back off. This is her dream and our dream and they have NO right to say WHEN it’s convenient for them.

Everybody here tomorrow needs to make another effort to call Howard Dean and tell him that OUR convention is in AUGUST and we’ll not need anything before then by the BIGWHIGS of the party to pick our nominee.

He friggin wants to hijack this party to suit himself and Donna Brazil. Got news flash for him .. he treats Hillary bad and we’ll hurt them where it hurts really bad in November. We’ll set there asses outside the whitehouse for another 8 years

Just thinking. There have been a lot of calls from so-called party leaders for Hillary to step aside for Obama. They claim if she continues to fight it may destroy the party. Well, if “the party” means those guys, then what is the loss? It appears to me some demolition needs doing.

“If for nothing else it will give me great pleasure to FU to the whole party if they keep sending out insulting old men to tell her to back off. This is her dream and our dream and they have NO right to say WHEN it’s convenient for them.”

“Hillary Clinton walked into a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conference room last Tuesday to meet with some of the newspaper’s editors and reporters and declared, “It was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do.”

The room erupted in laughter. Her remark defused what could have been a confrontational meeting.”

I hope Hillary tells at every rally how they are trying to PUSH her out, PUSH their vote out .. make it HER and US against THEM, THE OLD FUCKING WHITE HEADED BASTARDS .. turn this into a battle against good vs evil .. us being good that we want to count every vote, hear every person and then we’ll decide at OUR convention in AUGUST the way we always do.

She needs to keep hitting it with the people to let them know that THE PARTY is wanting to force a CROWNING on us in June or July and that is not what we bought into with the party. I admit I haven’t donated much to the party as a whole but I’ve voted Democrat before when I had to hold my nose.

omg. its too much. well Santorum is the ONLY one who could point that one out but it does fit his pattern. Funny thing about Rick, I really think he is warming up to run in 2012. I still think the GOP hates their candidates this year and if BO makes to the WH, they will spend 4 years undermining him and turning him into the next Jimmy Carter so they can turn Santorum into the next Reagan.
YUCK.

I think we should find a way to get Barbara Streisand to do a fundraiser. She can do it in her backyard like the last time. I would generate excitement and money. Sir Elton John in New York on the East Coast and the legendary Barbara Streisand in Malibu California in the West.

maggie was previously on the board of a subprime mortgage company .. so what. Not everybody that has a company like supprime is out to hump people. These are mostly legit business and some people just got in over their heads.

To whomever asked me in the last thread (I’m sorry I can’t recall who you were right now) if I would write a diary about the Pitt. Tribune’s article on HRC, and their ‘reawakening’ to her, etc.

Absolutely I will!

I’ve got some other diary ideas in my head right now, but I will make the time to write about that. Thank you for asking and thinking I might be able to pull it off.

The only things which I have any real ‘concern’ about (and it’s not very great concern) right now are North Carolina and cash flow for the campaign’s coffers. I think Ace is down in NC, right? If so, great. First we have to max-out PA, and then NC can be more dealt with. I think that is the key state.

As far as the campaign cash numbers, I need to get up to speed with that. As I said earlier, I donated today and will be looking to donate plenty next month as well. This is the critical time. I know the media wants to seize on the supposed latest HRC ‘crisis,’ but I want to make sure I am up to speed on the situation, from all fronts.

Remember how after HRC won OH and TX the attention turned to PA. Everybody agreed that was THE contest, the one that a lot of SDs would look at to decide who to support. Now that it looks like Hill will get a double digit victory there she’s supposed to drop out? WTF! Correct me if I’m wrong but she’s only behind by less than 100 pledged delegates, excluding MI and FL. So what candidate worth his/her ass would drop out now? It also insults my intelligence when the same assholes that have been wrong at every turn about what would happen- Hill would lose NH, she’s done on Super Tuesday, and of course no way she can win OH and TX- pull the whole “she doesn’t have the math” card out of their collective asses. Guess what fellas? BO can’t get to 2025 without the supers either! I’m sorry about the cussing, but it just burns me up to hear a bunch of old ass white men tell Hillary fucking Clinton to leave the race all to clear the path for their golden boy.

Sophie B. Hawkins, a former one-hit wonder who survived the massive overplaying of her single “Damn, I wish you were my lover,” to become a respected singer- songwriter, will take the stage in Doylestown April 13 with former President Bill Clinton.

It’s not a cheap ticket. The Hillary Clinton fundraiser will cost attendees $1,000 a head, $2,300 (the maximum individual contribution) if they want to chill with Bill at a special VIP reception. The bash starts at 7 p.m.

The concert will be held at Puck, http://www.pucklive.com, hip downtown bar and music venue that plays host to a wide variety of local and national Indie music acts.

Hawkins is an unabashed Hillary supporter. Check out the Sophie B. Hawkins website for details on the event.

its been a collusion from the get go. the white headed and bald headed bastards don’t want a woman in the white house. that alone would make me vote for her even if i didn’t agree with all of her policies.

hi hillfans. hope your weekend is going well. just finished house cleaning. hillary is almost at $2 million for the end of march fundraising. hopefully she can make $3 million before the end of monday midnight.

Pennsylvania was viewed as “THE” primary and must win state until it appeared that Hillary would win big. When Murtha endorsed Hillary it became even more obvious that Hillary would at least win Pennsylvania.

So what happened then?

Big Media decided that Hillary winning North Carolina AND Indiana was a MUST.

As Indiana looks possible for Hillary to win, now Big Media is saying North Carolina is a MUST win.

I was scanning the AM waves coming home from shopping and there was Stinky’s voice, talking about race and “white folks” etc. I guess it was taken from one of his audio books. The right wing is all over this. It was the Hugh Hewitt show, he was also referring to the “Pastor’s Bulletin”, or whatever it is called, slamming Israel. I am sure the Jewish money men who fund the Party are really going to hearing that.

BTW, FARC is an army of leftist guerrilas who are fighting to take over Columbia. They are alligned with Hugo Chavez – who recently sent his military to the border of Columbia.

The big questions are why is the right wing talking about BHO ties to FARC? Does this somehow involve Rezko’s South American connections? Is Auchi funding FARC? These are valid questions.

well i hope when kerry speaks or kennedy there is hill supporters boooing like crazy..just like they did shelia jackson ..thats why teddy and kerry wont be coming out to speak to anyone…there gonna hide and said they dont have time…and pelosi to…there so chicken shit….

Ole Teddy boy thinks his vacation home is too pristine for windmills for power and looks like they find his yacht spewing diesel fuel out in the ocean. I hope they put one of those windmills in his fat ass face.

I’m not too good to be within hearing distance of one of them gawd awful Nuclear sirens .. every wednesday first of month it screams for 3 minutes and I’m a good ways from it.

My post:
Even aside from the questions this raises about Obama’s own attitudes to Israel and and to mainstream US beliefs, it shows incompetence and poor judgement. Whatever else, he and his staff are NOT ready for prime time, and he has NOT been vetted.(And we can’t trust the mainstream media to vet him — they had the tapes for months but were concealing them till Fox broke the story.)

If anyone still wants to see Obama continue a national career, they had better suggest he drop out quickly, become governor of some far away state, and hope eventually people will forget this. If he drops out now, Fox will turn on Hillary instead; if he stays in, they will keep digging on Obama.

The ironic part of this is that our side needs alternate ways to communicate like the internet and bypass the MSM’s biased or suppressed Clinton coverage – and yet, Clinton supporters, the older folks, working families, people for whom English is a second language – overall, aren’t as tech savvy.

I wouldn’t fool around with that. I might, however, hunt down a couple of nice fresh plump puffer fish and make sure they’re served at an evening meal. 👿

BTW – posted 22,000 characters on TT but can’t post the whole 72 pages. i sent it as a reply to your last regular mail message and didn’t get a notification that the message had bounced so maybe it got through this time?
Nothing on hannity. What happened to Ayers?

I think what we are seeing in the actions of the Party “Big wigs” is a power struggle for control between the “old money” faction and the “new money” faction (represented by the Clintons). It’s pretty obvious because I don’t think that Pelosi and Kennedy are that close ideologically, the only thing they have in common is that they come from similar political family backgrounds.

It’s pretty much a repeat of what cost Dems the control of Congress in 1994. Old money Democrats hate that Bill Clinton knows how to win. They’re not trying to win the White House, they’re trying to destroy the Clinton influence on the Democratic Party and protect their own political influence even if it means that Republicans control the Executive Branch for four more years.

Pelosi proved with “Impeachment is off the table” that she is no friend of Democratic voters. Kennedy’s support of Obama shows that he is out of touch with the voters of his state who voted overwhelminly in favor of Senator Clinton. It’s odd to see Dean and Kerry on the same side; but given the way that Kerry threw the fight in ’04 to George Bush, it seems pretty obvious that he doesn’t have the spine to be a true leader (or if you’re prone to tin foil theories, perhaps he’s part of a bi-partisan effort to derail the Democratic Agenda).

In any case, the Clintons have proven, despite their faults, that they are friends of lower and middle class democratic voters. We should not be having so hard a time getting our choice elected, and yet the opposition has managed to game the system in such a way that our struggle is epic.

I take heart in knowing that there are superdelegates who have not yet committed. It gives me hope that all is not lost and they are waiting for an excuse to get behind Clinton. There’s no other reason for them not to have committed to Obama if they are inclined to do so. Still, these are scary times.

Exactly. I’ve been posting that for days. The goal is a ‘palace coup’ to replace internal leadership and has little if anything to do with battling the alleged opponents, the Repubs. The ‘old money’ guys would prefer that the Dems lose the WH with BO then win with HRC. In fact, some of them are probably secretly salivating at THAT prospect because then they can blame HRC for the loss. It is too too demented.

And of course there’s the old CYA scrambling kicking into high gear, now.
Screw democracy. Screw the country. Just make sure my safe secure little world isn’t affected.

CJ – i believe these are “log cabin” republicans – gay republicans – which constantly puts them in a dilemma because most of the time, they can’t vote for republicans who legislate homophobia and they don’t like the Dems. I think some of their attitudes reflect what’s going on with Republicans in general – can’t vote for the traitor to their party, McCain, can’t vote for anti-American, Wright-embracing Obama.

odd combo, but i believe the creator of Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry, is log-cabin.

Why don’t we ask John Edwards if he had the money and the support and the votes/delegates if he would quit, I doubt he would! He would tell us were crazy, were not quitting!! They just think they can make out like Hillary is ruining the party. I just what the other candidates would do if they were in hillary’s place now and moving towards some record breaking wins. I am sure they would laugh and thats what we need to do!!

rjk1957, I screwed that up last night, I realized it later, they have 1 uncommitted instead of giving Hillary the other one. the vote count was 44 to 36. so I guess that’s the way they decided it should be. The one that is undecided is a friend of mine and she is an AA and she is definitely not uncommitted. That’s how the Obamatrons have been cheating.

Wow! That (paddy’s post linked above) really does connect most of the dots.

The Democratic in-fighting predates the neo-libs as described in the post, but paddy most definitely explains the tone of dynamics at play now, I think. One thing that I just can’t shake is the Kerry Skull and Bones connection to the Shrub (and which others?). There’s way too much money in the Obama coffers and not enough on the Right to discount a neoCon presence in the Democratic Primary.

lninla Says:
The ironic part of this is that our side needs alternate ways to communicate like the internet and bypass the MSM’s biased or suppressed Clinton coverage – and yet, Clinton supporters, the older folks, working families, people for whom English is a second language – overall, aren’t as tech savvy.

skmf12 has a great idea on that: those of us who have computer savvy, print out flyers and leave them on buses, in laudramats, etc.

Last post got stuck in the filter, it will probably appear again. In case this story about Maggie Williams grows, we need to start pushing back on it now. Obama’s campaign finance person, Penny Pritzker, has her own troubling ties to the mortgage industry. I don’t think this matters for either candidate, but if they go after Maggie, it isn’t fair to ignore Obama’s ties, so send this out far and wide to Fox, which is so far the only network covering Maggie. Also, be sure to point out in your emails that the fact that Clinton has the toughest legislation on this issue shows that she does not bow to corporate interests.

In 1980, Carter, as the sitting president, should have had an easy time. But Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy launched a primary challenge that galvanized the Democratic Party’s liberals. By June, Carter had won enough contests to amass a lead in delegates that seemed to guarantee him renomination. Yet Kennedy refused to withdraw. He publicly carried on his campaign through high-profile speeches while allies worked behind the scenes to poach Carter’s delegates. “If Mr. Kennedy is feeling no great financial pressure to get out of the race,” the New York Times reported on June 11, “he also appears to be feeling no great pressure to withdraw to avoid splitting the Democratic party.” Days before the convention, Kennedy announced he would break precedent to become the first Democrat since William Jennings Bryan to address the convention before the first roll call—the gesture of an active candidate, not a peacemaker. He ultimately surrendered at the convention itself.

Ann, maybe that is why Kennedy has been pretty silent in calling for her to drop out…he would be the worst hypocrite and would probably get some pretty bad press.

For those of you suggesting flyers, I think this is a TERRIFIC idea. We should pick a few topics and then we can come up with a template and email them out amongst ourselves. Then we should connect with people who are in upcoming states and get them to print them and do the actual drop at various locations…

Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
*****************************************************
So when you see the talking heads continue with their demeaning and sexist comment on Hillary Clinton know that this is nothing new and that we have to see this for what it is….nothing but talking smack, like in baseball with all the “Hey batter, batter” crap when you get up to the plate.

Now Hillary is at the plate again and she’s behind by two runs and the team been throwing balls at her head, hit her in the side a couple of times BUT she STILL in the game, at the plate and getting ready to knock it out the park.

We’re not even at the 7 inns stretch…so all these calls for Team Hillary to step aside and concede the game to Team Obama is absurd. Let them chatter away all they want because it doesn’t matter, it all part of the game and it’s not over yet.

Its disheartening to realize that the Dean is so for Obama that he is willing to silence millions to do it.
Prediction: Obama declares himself the winner of 48 states and Hillary declares herself the winner of all 50. What then?
more fighting
more silencing
more splitting
John McCain win

If Dean has any sense he will seat FL and MI delegates now, recognize they had a primary and millions voted, and allow the Democratic Nominee to be able to call herself/himself legit.

Something to keep in mind…
The school year at most colleges ends in a few weeks. With the college students away from the campus and out in the real world during the months of May and June, there should be more opportunities for Hillary supporters in the upcoming primary states to talk with these young ‘uns about the issues and get some of the kool-aid out of their systems.

Hey everyone, Hillary is going to win this. I can’t wait until i get to Philly. As Hillary said WE ARE IN IT TO WIN. There is no greater fighter than Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just keep the FAITH. I will be leaving for Philly on April 18th. There will be a bus load of us. I wish i could go to NC.

PS i am 66 years old and i am in this to win it. I will be walking and knocking on doors, phone banking etc.

Well, it seems like, they don’t want Hillary to gain any ground with PA. They want the lead to be out of reach. Apparently, the BO camp is doing everything to destroy the significance of a PA win, and to prevent a good showing in NC. So much, for the will of the voters.

its on the front page of the wsj right now guys. the whole dleegation of nc dem congresspeople are going for obama. wtf. they are moving to shut this down faster i think. the people of nc havent spoken but their reps are ALL telling them to shut up an give the nom to obama. sick

I don’t understand, why people are flocking to BO, with all this Wright stuff coming out. I must be very dense, because it is beyond understanding. Maybe, they don’t want Hillary, and are willing to throw the GE. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.

They must feel very threatened by Hillary, otherwise, why aren’t they letting the people vote. What hypocrisy. Terrondt, you’re right. MA was won, even though, the Gov, Kerry, and Kennedy were for BO. But, NC is much closer.

I feel they don’t care if we win the election. I read something about John Kerry, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore. These are the four men that do not want her to win. They hate her. If i find that article i will post it. They will do anything to see her fail. Could someone help me find that article

I have never felt so voiceless in my life. This Party doesn’t give a shit about the half of the voters who have thus far voted for Hillary. They could care a less about the will of registered Dem’s, a majority of whom have supported Hillary. they are panicked by Democracy.

They also don’t care about the voters of MI and FL. By not considering these states, it tilts everything towards BO, including SDs. What a farce. This is a rigged election. I am done with the democratic party.

this move makes me now wonder-what does edwards do? stand for hillary against now all the congressfolk dems of nc? or does this push for him to endorse-hopefully her asap? god the media will go bannanas with this move. im also concerned with hillary’s sd effort. really. he is now trying to lock down states with sds. we cannot bleed like this 10 sds a week for sure. go am i pissed-but pray all this bakfires big-cauing major wins in these upcomming states. they re tryign to shut her down and she will throw down the gauntlet to the voters as she has-tell the party we want hillary for 44.

“One North Carolinian confirmed that at least several of the state’s House members would go public in favor of Sen. Obama before long. Meanwhile, elected officials in other states with upcoming contests, including Indiana, Montana and Oregon, are weighing whether to endorse Sen. Obama.”

Sounds fuzzy to me. “One North Carolinian”? “At least several of the state’s House members”? These folks are going public in favor of Obama “before long”? And the elected officials in other states are “weighing” whether to endorse Obama?

None of this sounds like a done deal yet. Yes, the WSJ is a reputable publication, but we’ve seen so many journalists from so many reputable publications and TV news agencies fall prey to the Obama kool-aid, either drinking the kool-aid themselves or merely taking the Obamabots’ word as gospel.

I am just so mad right now. Why are people saying that Hillary should get out??? She just WON Ohio and Texas. She BEAT the media and Obama. The media and Obama have said time and time again that she has to win a certain state or get out. They said she has to win TX and OH. She WON THEM. She kicked Obama’s butt!!! Now Obama has a huge scandal, and they’re saying that she has to get out???

1950Dem: “Look, all this about Hillary being ‘behind’ and ‘needing to catch up’ is just the other side’s talking points.
They’re trying to frame the contest their way.”

Hello?! Trying? They HAVE framed it that way for weeks, with nary a peep from Hill’s side about the gross dishonesty of it all.

Hill won FLA with BO on the ballot and he took his name off in MI because he knew he would lose.
He’s of course done everything he can to block a re-vote.

I said this weeks ago: All that matters form Hill’s perspective is winning the popular vote. And so the “count FLA & MI” or “Re-vote in FLA & MI” is all her campaign should be talking about – and it should be an overwhelming drumbeat.
I’d prefer she stay out of it actually, and let Wolfsson and the others not only make the case but BLAST Obama for continually talking about politics & process over the American people & their problems.

You’ll note that in the past few days, the chattering class have begun their moving of the next goalpost. As most now expect Hill to win PA, I’ve heard more than a few say if she doesn’t win NC (where she’s never been favored) she will have to drop out.
It’s all about filling the airwaves with this disgusting MFing shit.

And if anyone doesn’t think so, just remember how many said – after a 2-week deathwatch – if she somehow won TX & OH it would then be
“a whole new ball game”.

Also says all seven of North Carolina’s Democratic House members plan to back the Land of Lincolner as a group (just one has so far) before state’s May 6 contest.
Paper says it’s part of a slow but steady string of Dems taking Obama’s side, trying

I think we should use the delegate hub on Hillary’s site and blast super delegates for the next few days about how we will walk from the party if they shut this down before all the states have voted yet…

It really is just amazing. We get a really strong, smart, capable woman nominee. She’s the most qualified woman we will ever have. And what happens? We hear “no, we need something NEW and EXCITING now.” She has far, far more experience and qualifications. But now they’re changing the rules. We don’t need experience! We need “hope” and “change.”

Just an observation–these SD are from states Obama is expected to win anyway. Instead of getting endorsements little by little as each primary comes up over the weeks it sounds like the Obama camp has asked these people to come out in a group to make it look like a “wave” of endorsements. Also, in the article cited, I don’t know how anyone with a straight face could cite Hillary’s negatives when Obama’s numbers are virtually identical and with the clear impact from the Wright affair in head to head polling with McCain. These people had to be long time Obama supporters…

Hillary should make an effort to come out with endorsements of her own even if they are ahead of time. I read that there were 2 or 3 other Pennsylvania ones that might follow Murtha. Perhaps this is the time to pressure them to come forth…

Also, didn’t Hillary get the number of delegates expected for Texas? Shows that people aren’t abandoning her…..

Is there someway we can let these sd know that we are not going to fall for this. We are not going to let them decide who i nominee should be. Can we get out and get a rally or something going to show them WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

Henry,
I agree that Wright should have finished off Obama. I cannot comprehend how or why it has not. Then again, the voters haven’t had a chance to weigh in yet, as the most recent primary occurred before Wright. So we’ll have to wait and see.

I will preface this by saying, I am not at all accusing BO’s of being anything –

But sometimes the sheer amount of propaganda that comes out of the media, that continues to beat down on my rationale and others daily, is making me start to understand what it must be like to live in a fascist society – I mean we are nowhere near being Nazi Germany, but I can vaguely understand what citizens would have to deal with when they hear the same messages over and over again.

I also said this months ago; (Bill &) Hil will be blamed for EVERYTHING, she’ll be given credit for nothing, minimized as none in her position ever have been before.

So she may as well take advantage of it.

Dems have shown themselves to be the spinless jackals I always knew they were. And so, leading up to NC (with the media continuing its narrative, as mentioned above) it is time to take advantage of it by obliterating Barack Obama.

The ads, Wright, Rezko, Michele, etc. the whole insideous nature of BO’s campaign must be made clear.
A massive ad buy, even more free media, let the repubs pile on (the closer it gets the more they can’t wait) and Hill needs to return to her “Shame on You”, ” Meet me in Texas” style.

I wonder if the bots go after people like Michael Steele and Michael Brown like they go after VOTERS who just do not believe as they do? It seems as if they want to silence EVERYONE who has a DIFFERENT point of view than theirs.

evening all…..been watching John Adams and taking care of business …..have read through the posts thus far

and i am not shaken by these new endorsements coming out for bambi……think about it

we all freaked when teddy kennedy et all came out for bambi and what did it get him? Hill won mass.!! LOL

this will not rock the ss clinton!!! 😀 Let them play their game, I don’t believe for a second that bill and hill didn’t see this whole scenerio coming long before she announced her candidacy. I believe they have the best staff and they ARE on top of things 😀

after reading posts here today, if it is true they want mccain….then mc cain is the last one to vote for………we need to start the we will vote for Nadar campaign if hill is not the nom…….that’ll really shake their rubber tree!! 😀 😀

re: propaganda – one of us, who’s either no longer with us or changed names – suggested that the MSM is being highly influenced by the internet, basically a constant whisper campaign on the net – and since the MSM doesn’t want to get scooped by bloggers, it stops confirming with enough sources or it’s relying on sources which themselves are faulty.

Anyway, this guy on Stop-Obama.org, Jeff Gold, is one of the few who’ve discusses the whole thing in the paradigm of “psychological warfare.

I think, they are taking the voters for granted. Hillary’s voters will get over it, by Nov., and MI and FL will get over it, and if they don’t, then they can be sacrificed during the GE. With all BO’s rhetoric, and that is all it is, rhetoric, about the rights of voters, his team and our elected officials are disenfranchising many voters.

djia – was talking on the phone with one of us today, and don’t want to take away their thunder, but they didn’t post it here as far as I can tell – in NC in a speech, Hillary claimed to be talking with Elizabeth Edwards almost every week.

It’s so far beyond frustrating MJ; it’s just how it is.
The entire eight years of the Clinton presidency were the same way.
Us (the 40 or so million of us) against the world.

Look no further on how the media is steering the race than this flap over BO lying about the Kennedys funding his father to come to the US.

The WaPo headline said BO “Overstates The Story”
Inside, however, it says what it really is, which is a flat out lie.

“It is a touching story — but the key details are either untrue or grossly oversimplified.”

That’s why i pointed out this “BO as Teflon” narrative that was out there, which is essentially the media acknowledging they won’t even try to nail him down cause he’ll only escape “somehow” as well as the “Hill must win NC or go home” bullshit too.

These are the storylines the campaign has to hit with 100% ferocity.
And of course the popular vote/FLA/MI thigamajug.

mj – I sort of wonder about the timing because of Edwards were to endorse this week, not sure that makes sense for him – but if he were to endorse if PA were a landslide for her – makes sense. He’s jumping on the bandwagon of the candidate with momentum.

Ininla, interesting information on Elizabeth Edwards. I wonder if he will endorse and if they are just saving it for the right moment. Also, I wonder if Gore isn’t behind some of the effort to convince DNC members to back off demands on Hillary to quit the campaign. He actually came out for her continuing this past week.

The stop-Obama article on propagand is right on–I have felt this way for a long time. I think the constant calls to leave the race are being done to decrease donations to Hillary’s campaign and influence voters in the upcoming primaries. That’s why they haven’t stopped doing it…

Well, I just had a great day here in Medford Oregon. Bill C came to town and I went early to help out. They had moved the event to a larger venue and The line was very long. People showed up at noon for a 5:30 event. Miraculously,we were able to get everyone in. There were ALOT of undecided voters.

Bill was magnificent! He spoke for about two hours and covered what is critical for America, how things got the way they are and what Hillary plans to do about it in detail. I heard from some people that went to the recent Obama rally was that this was much more informative, the people were more laid back, and the security was much, much more lax than when Obama was here.

djia – was talking on the phone with one of us today, and don’t want to take away their thunder, but they didn’t post it here as far as I can tell – in NC in a speech, Hillary claimed to be talking with Elizabeth Edwards almost every week.
****************************************************************************

While Obama has decried the influence of special interests in Washington, the reality is that many of the most talented and experienced political operatives in his party are lobbyists, and he needs their help. [Bolton]

One of the lobbyists, who supports Clinton, said that Shomik Dutta, a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign, called to ask if the lobbyist’s wife would be interested in making a political contribution.

“I was quite taken aback,” he said. “He was very direct in saying that you’re a lobbyist and we don’t want contributions from lobbyists. But your wife can contribute and we like your network.”

Dutta declined to discuss his work.

Mike Williams, the director of government relations at Credit Suisse Securities [contributions to Obama, last year spent 2 million lobbying Congress], said of the network of lobbyists supporting Obama: “I would imagine that it’s as large as the Clinton list.” [Bolton]

Other K Street players [lobbyists] working to build momentum for Obama are former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a consultant for Alston & Bird; Broderick Johnson, president of Bryan Cave Strategies LLC; Mark Keam, the lead Democratic lobbyist at Verizon; Jimmy Williams, vice president of government affairs for the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America; Thomas Walls, vice president of federal public affairs at McGuireWoods Consulting; and Francis Grab, senior manager at Washington Council Ernst & Young. [Bolton]

With all their efforts to keep their influence and contributions to Obama’s campaign a secret

Obama has raised more than $1.4 million from members of law and consultancy firms led by partners who are lobbyists, The Los Angeles Times reported last week. [Globe]

his presidential campaign has maintained ties with lobbyists and lobbying firms to help raise some of the $58.9 million he collected through the first six months of 2007. [Globe]

And I’d like to add to Sen. Obama I don’t have it not because I can’t afford it, I can, I just don’t want to afford it. It’s the same with car insurance, if I wasn’t required to have it, I probably wouldn’t. I’m lazy when it comes to that stuff.

I had to pay out of pocket for my oral surgery. It wasn’t cheap. Dental would be nice.

Hillbilly, glad your day went well. How wonderful, to see Bill Clinton. Also, glad to hear about the positive response.

I read the article, and I agree, this campaign has been about psychological warfare. As long, as Hillary is fighting, we have to keep fighting. She is getting good crowds, and people seem responsive to heard.

After reading about the media, no wonder all the major papers have been endorsing BO. I cancelled my subscription to the SF Chronicle, after Super Tuesday, because of the biased coverage or non-coverage.

David Axelrod’s next book will be called: How to Bamboozle the Electorate.

last of my conspiracy theories, but I believe that Axelrod and Dean are trying to build an internet propaganda machine as formidable as the one that the Republicans have built over the years, but ya know – they could still fail against people who still think for themselves – like all of Hillary’s supporters.

Alright g’night all – now going to watch Elizabeth – need to watch a woman kicking ass and ruling a country.

Screw the NC delegation. They are stupid. No offense. But any rural who endorses BO is a joke, because she is going to win those districts. She is going to win NC. This is psychowarfare and IT WON’T WORK!

“It changed lives for millions and millions of families. And she was doing that when she was a young woman, making changes in other people’s lives,” he said.

He then referred to the three remaining candidates, saying all were “admirable people,” but that if one compared their records as an agent of change “it is not close.” But, he added, the coverage of the race hasn’t borne it out.

“She’s the most unconventional person I have ever seen to be running for president, because she did most of this before she had an elected office,” he said. “[But] you never read about any of stuff in the press, do you? Because the intermediaries of the campaign, these kinds of things don’t matter to them, because they don’t need a president, they need a story. They want a feeling. You gotta decide whether you need a president or not.”

mj – what do you think about that survey usa poll that shows MA tied if Obama is the nominee? Is it the Deval factor? That you guys are having a little bit of deja-vu or just an anomaly? I can’t see MA going red. Just like I couldn’t see WA going red, but the latest SUSA polls have Hillary beating McCain in WA, so I think that earlier poll was just…off.

Tiny, i do believe he could lose MA. Remember we had 16 years of Repub Governors. Obama lost everywhere that wasn’t an elite town. If you can’t win outside 495, ie, thoe working class part of the state, you can’t win.

Where can I find Hill’s schedule? I know she’ll be in PA for the next 3 days, then probably Indiana, but I don’t think she should give up on NC, just because of that dumbass delegation. I think she sould pull an upset there.

My brother really likes McCain. He’s an independent and more than anything wants Gore to be the nominee, but if he doesn’t get Gore, he’s voting McCain. Which is a weird leap for me, from Gore to McCain. My bro told me over a year ago that he though McCain would be hard to beat. This was back when I was saying that Guiliani was going to get the Repub nomination. I’m obviously Nostradamus.

During the recent media super storm: Obama’s Pastor Disaster, CBS 2 Chicago has strangely not released video they have of Obama at Trinity United Church of Christ for a Book Signing / Church Service with Pastor Wright. According to a Chicago Tribune article, at the Service Obama spoke to the cheering congregation and the choir sang, “Hallelujah Barack”. After the service Wright and Obama sat together, laughing , talking and signing books. Leaving one to wonder, if a republican candidate had this sort of controversy swirling around would the footage have found it’s way to the national and cable news networks by now?

True there is mathematics but there is logic too.
I can assert to everyone that BO will not win the presidency even if he is pushed through into the nomination. That is the logic. The politicians, who are loudly supporting or spontaneously endorsing BO, are either some sort of losers or speculators (looking forward to 2012 to take over from McCain) I don’t want to name them all but these hypocrites are spoiling the coming four years.
I fully agree with Hillary’s determination. She must stay in the race and bring a difference in the forthcoming primaries.

ABM90–wherever you are. Ya gotta give me a gold star on this one for calling it right. Former Clinton hater Scaife met Hillary, had a very favorable impression and is 75% of the way to endorsing her, but need to give Bambi a pro form protoloical examination first.

My advice to Mr. Scaife would be to forgo that examination, stipulate to the fact that Barry is an asshole and endorse Hillary right now. But apparently he wants to prolong the suspense.

The tell was the cordial lunch forme Clinton hater Scaife had with Bill a few months.

A couple weeks ago I asked whether there were any Republican newspapers in Pittsburg and the answer was no. Well this one sure as hell is. I also asked if there were any Mellons left in the area. Evidently there are.

Hillary, reassessed

By Richard M. Scaife
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 31, 2008

Hillary Clinton walked into a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conference room last Tuesday to meet with some of the newspaper’s editors and reporters and declared, “It was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do.”
The room erupted in laughter. Her remark defused what could have been a confrontational meeting.

More than that, it said something about the New York senator and former first lady who hopes to be America’s next president.

More than most modern political figures, Sen. Clinton has been criticized regularly, often harshly, by the Trib. We disagreed with many of her policies and her actions in the past. We still disagree with some of her proposals.

The very morning that she came to the Trib, our editorial page raised questions about her campaign and criticized her on several other scores.

Reading that, a lesser politician — one less self-assured, less informed on domestic and foreign issues, less confident of her positions — might well have canceled the interview right then and there.

Sen. Clinton came to the Trib anyway and, for 90 minutes, answered questions.

Her meeting and her remarks during it changed my mind about her.

Walking into our conference room, not knowing what to expect (or even, perhaps, expecting the worst), took courage and confidence. Not many politicians have political or personal courage today, so it was refreshing to see her exhibit both.

Sen. Clinton also exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s most pressing domestic and international issues. Her answers were thoughtful, well-stated, and often dead-on.

Particularly regarding foreign policy, she identified what we consider to be the most important challenges and dangers that the next president must confront and resolve in order to guarantee our nation’s security. Those include an increasingly hostile Russia, an increasingly powerful China and increasing instability in Pakistan and South America.

Like me, she believes we must pull our troops out of Iraq, because it is time for Iraqis to handle their own destiny — and, more important, because it is past time to end the toll on our soldiers there, to begin rebuilding our military, and to refocus our attention on other threats, starting with Afghanistan.

On domestic policy, Sen. Clinton and I might find more areas on which we disagree. Yet we also agree on others. Asked about the utter failure of federal efforts to rebuild New Orleans since the Katrina disaster, for example, she called it just what it has been — “not just a national disgrace (but) an international embarrassment.”

Does all this mean I’m ready to come out and recommend that our Democrat readers choose Sen. Clinton in Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary?

No — not yet, anyway. In fairness, we at the Trib want to hear Sen. Barack Obama’s answers to some of the same questions and to others before we make that decision.

But it does mean that I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today than before last Tuesday’s meeting — and it’s a very favorable one indeed.

Call it a “counterintuitive” impression.

Richard M. Scaife is the owner of the Tribune-Review.

By Richard M. Scaife
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 31, 2008

Hillary Clinton walked into a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conference room last Tuesday to meet with some of the newspaper’s editors and reporters and declared, “It was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do.”
The room erupted in laughter. Her remark defused what could have been a confrontational meeting.

More than that, it said something about the New York senator and former first lady who hopes to be America’s next president.

More than most modern political figures, Sen. Clinton has been criticized regularly, often harshly, by the Trib. We disagreed with many of her policies and her actions in the past. We still disagree with some of her proposals.

The very morning that she came to the Trib, our editorial page raised questions about her campaign and criticized her on several other scores.

Reading that, a lesser politician — one less self-assured, less informed on domestic and foreign issues, less confident of her positions — might well have canceled the interview right then and there.

Sen. Clinton came to the Trib anyway and, for 90 minutes, answered questions.

Her meeting and her remarks during it changed my mind about her.

Walking into our conference room, not knowing what to expect (or even, perhaps, expecting the worst), took courage and confidence. Not many politicians have political or personal courage today, so it was refreshing to see her exhibit both.

Sen. Clinton also exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s most pressing domestic and international issues. Her answers were thoughtful, well-stated, and often dead-on.

Particularly regarding foreign policy, she identified what we consider to be the most important challenges and dangers that the next president must confront and resolve in order to guarantee our nation’s security. Those include an increasingly hostile Russia, an increasingly powerful China and increasing instability in Pakistan and South America.

Like me, she believes we must pull our troops out of Iraq, because it is time for Iraqis to handle their own destiny — and, more important, because it is past time to end the toll on our soldiers there, to begin rebuilding our military, and to refocus our attention on other threats, starting with Afghanistan.

On domestic policy, Sen. Clinton and I might find more areas on which we disagree. Yet we also agree on others. Asked about the utter failure of federal efforts to rebuild New Orleans since the Katrina disaster, for example, she called it just what it has been — “not just a national disgrace (but) an international embarrassment.”

Does all this mean I’m ready to come out and recommend that our Democrat readers choose Sen. Clinton in Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary?

No — not yet, anyway. In fairness, we at the Trib want to hear Sen. Barack Obama’s answers to some of the same questions and to others before we make that decision.

But it does mean that I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today than before last Tuesday’s meeting — and it’s a very favorable one indeed.

Jen the Michigander Says:
March 31st, 2008 at 12:49 am
Wright should have finished off Obama. I cannot comprehend how or why it has not. Then again, the voters haven’t had a chance to weigh in yet, as the most recent primary occurred before Wright.

I think there’s a time lag in the Wright video clips actually getting seen and heard by most voters. MSM and the pundits showed very short clips and then stopped showing them and started talking about BO’s speech instead, and are now claiming no one cares about Wright; they and BO’s supporters are in denial.

The people who will care most about Wright don’t watch pundits: they have got better things to do Sunday, like going to their own churches.

Fox is pushing the videos but most Fox viewers already opposed Obama. Talk radio reaches a wider audience, more slowly; soccer moms will eventually hear them in their minivans. Reaction is showing up in local newspapers and from local preachers. Circulation through email takes a while.

I’ve seen some ‘local reporter visits local hangout’ type of articles that show reaction uniformly against Obama/Wright. I don’t know why those people aren’t showing up in the polls — or whether MSM and BO’s people are cherry-picking the polls they show us.

A lot of these people may have been against Obama already, but they will be spreading the information to neutrals and supporters too. This is something that has ‘legs’ that don’t depend on any mass media, but slow legs.

I posted:
HIllary went to public school; Obama went to a fancy private school. Hillary has been helping middle class people all her professional life. Obama’s ‘community organizing’ was in back street inner city Chicago, where you organize riots to get potholes fixed. His supporters called him a “master of agitation” using the methods of “rub raw the sores of discontent” and no one has cited anything he actually accomplished that way (seehttp://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html… ) He’s been 20 years in a church that preaches against “middleclassness.”

Iam not sure if there is anything that will stick to Obama. The Democratic Party and the Media want him as the nominee, those two are a very difficult force to overcome. The only way Hillary will get the nomineation is for Obama to drop out!

I don’t know JAS, but she’ll be ahead in the popular vote. No one can win enough pledged delegates, and pledged delegate doesn’t mean anything. They can almost all vote how ever the hell they want at convention.

mj: okay i understand the popular vote comment. I still say when the Democratic party and the MSM don’t want you, then there is big issues, should she stay in??? YES fight to the convention, the SD are so stupid, don’t they know if Obama is the nominee, Karl Rove will eat him for dinner? Bottom line Hillary should stay in, the outcome is not what we want.

If Hillary does not stay in the race it makes a mockery of the entire super delegate and primary process. It will be obvious that the actual will of the voters is not as important as who can get the most Democratic DC elites behind them. It will also show that for all the talk there really isn’t a super delegate process at all when they apparently just rubber stamp the person ahead in delegates (and before the convention no less).

If a vast majority of super delegates were for Obama it would be over by now as they would all openly announce. I do worrry that the DNC big wigs (Dean, Pelosi, Brazile) plus the Obama camp are pulling out all the stops to get them to swing over. After all, if Obama has no qualms about thrreatening black SD’s so who knows what they are telling the remaining uncommitteds.

That 10 pt lead in the polls out recently can be disheartening but remember that was most likely taken during the height of Hillary’s Bosnia flap. I personally think that this is the time for Hillary to really come out swinging. There is an entire propaganda campaign going on against her and she needs to show that this won’t be accepted.

I hope they go at Obama on Hardball. It will be a high rated broadcast…this is one of the first times in my life that I am rooting for Sean Hannity.

I posted last night…I think the SD’s for Obama were announced now as a group to make it look like a “wave” of endorsements. Each state primary there have been SD’s endorsing both Obama and Hillary. I think the Obama camp is getting there’s out ahead of the upcoming primaries for propaganda purposes.
Hillary should do the same thing….

mj, I think it was Gallup poll that had Obama ahead but it was taken during the height of the Bosnia flap. I don’t think things have changed with the head to head McCain/Hillary/Obama match-ups which show Obama not doing as well as Hillary.

The national poll fluctuates all the time so it’s not something to obsess over.

Gallup had Obama ahead by 10 points. Chris Matthews, well, I think he will play softball with him. Obama played last weekend, saying she should get out, that made Hillary spend all weekend off message, now they are saying her campaign bills are not being paid, he will not stop at anything!!

I had dinner with my family last night and we all agreed that this election has set back race realations by 25 years. We were suprised that some (not all) of the black churchs have such bad feelings about the USA, and white people.

I can’t think that in the general election people will ignore Obama’s church. This is an issue of judgement and what his basic race philosophy is all about. People haven’t seen the RNC ads yet. Remember, no one thought Kerry could be damaged but the ads by the swiftboaters got him in the end. It’s a different ball game when you are looking for nationwide votes.

One observation…Dean was on the news in the past few days encouraging the camps to be less harsh. Obviously that is a lie as the drumbeat by Obama surrogates asking for Hillary to step down is still ongoing. I heard Kerry on the radio this morning. Obviously Dean is turning a blind eye to it or it would stop.

JAS: “… Chris Matthews, well, I think he will play softball with him. Obama played last weekend, saying she should get out, that made Hillary spend all weekend off message, now they are saying her campaign bills are not being paid, he will not stop at anything!!”

I think Chris Matthews should lay it on him with Rezko and Wright.
I didn’t notice she spent all weekend off topic…..seems to me she has spent it talking about issues also.

You’re right Obama and his supporters will not stop at anything to bring negative attention to Hillary in any way possible to any website possible.

This is why we have this site here…to talk positive about Hillary, to encourage one another and to ensure she becomes president.

dedfg: It has been down since late yesterday for service. PI is ugly. BO and Hillary supporters are polarized. Some posters come up with inflammatory headlines, that I have posted links to refute the lies. I stay away from Obamarama, and the Hillary people mostly post in her thread. I have posted links to many of the articles and pictures, from this site. The Hillary people are amazed at the hostility of the BO people. I have put “AGA…” on ignore, because she distorts information and tries to bait people. This election has divided people.

I’m getting ready to do my calling and I’m going to call Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Patrick Leahy and demand he apologize to Hillary on tv, Dodd as well. We need to keep the heat on them. They are trying to trample our constitution and stifle the votes of our democracy

Aga… does not post in the Hillary thread, but when she posts in other threads, she is doing the same thing ie distorting and baiting people. Louis holds his own, and I have sent personal messengers warning other people of her behavior. When she was gone for about a month, it was better. she is a trouble maker, according to another poster. Over the weekend, I helped to keep the Hillary thread going, by posting links to pictures of events in Indiana, a list of quotes from a poster here, and 2 you tube links, including, “I Need Hillary.” A few people have thanked me, for doing so. The response was not, as great, when I posted the petition for Dean to resign. People said, “Why? What has he done?” I did tell one person about this site, and a couple of others about Taylor Marsh.

@basil9.. if you watch fox news they have been very -ve to hillary for the last couple of days… its all part of game first they want to take out HRC… because they have plan ready to destory BHO when he is nominee and they don’t want HRC to be nominee and they don’t have plan to confront HRC if she is the nominee…

I am at a lost why Gallup and Ras are reporting opposites. In todays Ras poll Hill is up 1 and Obama is down 1. Waiting for the Gallup poll around 2pm.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Monday, March 31, 2008
Advertisment
In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, it’s Obama 46% Clinton 43% (see recent daily results). Clinton leads by thirteen points among White voters including a twenty-seven point advantage among White Women. Obama leads among White Men, has an overwhelming advantage among African-Americans, and a solid lead among voters under 50. Among Democrats, Clinton leads by seven. Among unaffiliated voters likely to participate in a Democratic Primary, Obama leads by a two-to-one margin.

SO is this an indication of how the next 3 weeks are gonna be? Deflect diffuse distract and support BO while chip-chip=chipping away at HRC?

it’s like the Wright issue never came up. The Rezko thing is so complicated that most people won’t be able to follow it’s significance. I mean, for god’s sake, if they can’t connect the dots between Wright, BO, NOI, Farrakhan, NBPP, Ayers, khaddafi, how are they gonna follow the rezko money trail.

i read in media that BO is related to Brad Pitt from his mother side… i ask the media why don’t they try to find out who is he related to from his father side… we know that his father is arab and you might know some shocking details… hahahahaha 🙂

call superdelegates and call states. Thats all I know to do. It’s US against the BASTARDS. Simple. If he’s the nominee we are stuck in shit till November and then we have another republican (which I can personally live with) so, I’m in till the last dawg dies.

the Kerrys, Deans, Kennedys have sunk the party. they are the ones out to destory Hillary because they are afraid a pussy can run the white house better than any dick who ever sat behind the desk. That is the way it is.

@mj… americans should care who obama’ related to because he is running for president… this i-don’t-care-who-the-person-is attitude is costing a lot i believe… in plain and simple words chicago dirty pols will take over this country when obama is in WH… they will appoint judges and try to influence the country in whatever way they can that is beneficial to them.. there is an article about his god father emilie jones jr on fox news… people like him will have lot of say once obama is in WH…

Another Senator, some ass clown from Minn. has endorsed BO. Amazing how the old boys club once again r ears it ugly head. Nonetheless, we must forge ahead and win big in Penn. and some of the other remaining states.
I have to believe Hillary/Bill know something we don’t or have one last bit of the Clinton machine magic that will turn the tide. I know something will definitely be done to give Fl. and MI some representation as the dems simply can’t afford to alienate these states and hope to win.
Lets keep the faith and fuck all the disloyal pricks/pundis/politicians who are trying to take the voices away of over 10 million Americans .

The president of the Illinois Senate is sitting in his statehouse office, talking in gravelly tones about political strategies and counter-strategies. Out of nowhere, the theme from “The Godfather” begins playing.

It turns out to be the ringtone on his cell phone — an appropriate song for the man who amounts to Barack Obama’s political godfather.

Emil Jones Jr. helped Obama master the intricacies of the Legislature. When Democrats took control of the state Senate, Jones, though he risked offending colleagues who had toiled futilely on key issues under Republican rule, tapped Obama to take the lead on high-profile legislative initiatives that he now boasts about in his presidential campaign.

And when Obama wanted a promotion to the U.S. Senate, Jones provided critical support that gave the little-known legislator legitimacy, keeping him from being instantly trampled by the front-runners.

“He’s been indispensable to Barack’s career. He wants to see a black president before he gets called home,” said fellow state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Democrat.

While Obama got vital help from Jones, the two men have sharply different political styles, and Jones may not be a political asset in a White House campaign.

Jones, 72, is an unabashedly old-school politician. A former sewer inspector for the city of Chicago, Jones has relatives on the state payroll, steers state grants to favorite organizations and uses his clout to punish enemies and bury GOP legislation.

Obama supporters see the alliance as an example of Obama’s ability to get things done by working with all kinds of people. Critics see it as hypocrisy — Obama refusing to speak out against the kinds of abuse he claims to oppose.

“His voting record is down-the-line unquestioned support of the Cook County machine,” said Steve Rauschenberger, a former Republican state senator.

The two first met in the mid-1980s. Jones was already in the state Senate and Obama was a young community organizer on Chicago’s South Side.

Obama apparently didn’t think much of Jones. In his memoir “Dreams from My Father,” Obama dismisses him as “an old ward heeler” who had little clout left after backing the wrong candidate.

But Jones was impressed by Obama and cooperated with Obama’s Developing Communities Project on some issues. Later, Obama was elected to the state Senate, where Jones was then the minority leader and most powerful black member of the Legislature.

“When he first came, we sat down and he said to me, ‘You know I like to work hard. Feel free to hand me any tough assignments on legislation,”‘ Jones recalls. “That was unusual, for a person to say ‘I like to work.”‘

Jones gave him a chance, assigning Obama to a bipartisan task force in charge of drafting ethics legislation.

It was not a glamor job. Obama would be asking legislators to accept new restrictions and asking good-government groups to compromise, leaving no one entirely happy. But legislators ended up passing the state’s first major ethics overhaul in years, including limits on gifts to officials.

Jones also let Obama work on establishing a state version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and lobby Republicans to soften their legislation adding work requirements to the state welfare system — an effort that ended with GOP senators praising Obama.

Several senators said Jones and Obama, who represented neighboring Chicago districts, weren’t particularly close. They didn’t socialize much, and the legislative opportunities he gave to Obama were similar to those available to other promising senators.

But their relationship changed in 2002.

It was clear that Democrats were going to win a majority in the state Senate that fall, making Jones the Senate president. And then the campaign machinery would start cranking again, with a long line of people looking to run for the U.S. Senate in 2004.

Obama approached Jones with an unexpected proposal: Use your new clout to back me for U.S. Senate.

“It clicked and made sense,” Jones said.

Obama had the personality and intelligence to succeed, Jones said, but he needed a major political figure in his corner — someone who could get unions, county chairmen and potential donors to consider the new guy with the strange name instead of quickly endorsing another candidate.

“He needed someone who could give him credibility,” Jones said.

An Obama victory would give Jones some of the credibility that other politicians had gained by showing they could put people in office. “President Jones said something to me like, ‘Hey, if they can do it, I can do it,”‘ Hendon recalled.

At a time when flaws in the state’s death penalty system had created a furor, Obama was picked to negotiate a bill requiring police to record their interrogations in murder cases. He was also put in charge of long-discussed legislation to curb racial profiling in traffic stops and was a key player in a new ethics overhaul.

These were complicated issues and Obama’s Senate hopes could have been damaged if he had failed. But he passed them all with overwhelming support and still cites them as evidence of his ability to find common ground among groups with sharp differences.

State Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, laughingly accuses Jones of a little “bill-jacking” — taking issues that other senators had been working on and giving them to Obama. Trotter, for instance, said he had hoped to be named chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee but the job went to Obama instead.

In an e-mail, Obama described Jones “a powerful advocate for those who need a voice” and someone with “passion for public service.”

Critics offer a different picture.

When Jones married a state employee, she suddenly got a 60 percent raise. His son got a state job that wasn’t advertised to the public. A nephew and stepson got computer consulting jobs from a college that received a $4.5 million grant for computing needs.

He has blocked bills sponsored by legislators who challenge him, and dug up an obscure Senate rule to reverse the passage of a consumer-friendly measure opposed by electric companies that had donated to his campaign.

Abner Mikva, a longtime Obama friend and former legal counsel to President Bill Clinton, rejects the idea that Obama should shun Jones and other similar politicians.

He argues Obama was smart to learn from Jones and pass important laws with him, while keeping a distance from Jones’ ethical problems.

“Purists usually end up dying pure but without many accomplishments,” he said. “True reformers learn how to build coalitions.”

Wow! that piece is powerful. I thought of my own father when I read it. He was a very principled man and he had a brother who worked in a department that took bribes all the time (in India) and in one conversation I was putting down such practices and my dad asked me what I would have done if it was him working in that department — I told him that that could never be and if it was, I would have been very ashamed — his face was beaming just as I said it. He is the reason for where I am today.

I remember your other diary on the 5 O’Clock shift (?) and that was moving as well. Please keep writing.

Hey pm, that is a nice story about you and your father. Those things mean so much don’t they? Sometimes, I still l can’t believe that given where my Dad came from, he did what he did. He was a fine man.

On Reverend Wright: Dis-invites Wright to speak at his rally announcing his candidacy. Saying to Wright….well you can get kind of rough in your sermons – this according to a Wright interview with the NYT.

From the initial interviews following the release of the Wright tapes: In his first interview following the start of the scandal with Keith Olberman he says he didn?t become aware of these statements until he started his Presidential run, pretty much what he said on Huffington Post.

Then on Fox in response to a question from Major Garrett he says he heard ?1 or 2? after he started his presidential run but not enough to get rid of him. He said he never heard the most recent stuff until these tapes started going around. In his interview with Anderson Cooper, he admited that he listened to tapes of Wrights sermons while he was at Harvard Law School.

From his speech in Philadelphia: “Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.”

From his book Audacity of Hope – he quotes one of the sermons… “It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere -That’s the world! On which hope sits!” And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. While the boys next to me doodled on their church bulletin, Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House.

To all of you posters, Hillary fighters, the media, et al who are being threatened with violence by the bullies in this election, my heart goes out to all of you.

This is an important moment in history. It could be the difference between getting the U.S.A. back to where it needs to be or having it continue on a downward spiral by electing a man with no moral conscience and even less qualified experience to do the job than even Bush has.

No doubt the ones that are announcing for Obama todayand yesterday had already been in Bambi court, they were waiting for the right time to come out! I am sure there are more for Hillary, just waiting for the right time to come out for her! Don’t you think? I don’t think we ought to worry yet, she laid down the gauntlet last wednesday and doofcock dean laid down his answer friday, so we are just airing out the ones that have always been on their team!! I think we should not worry and quit watching those polls!!

mj,
so you’re the only one around here whose allowed to handwring? You’ve done enough of that for the entire board for weeks.
And janH,
Scroll past my posts if you don’t like them. I don’t need nasty comments from you. Why don’t you save them for the obamabots.
If sharing information is considered handwringing and sticking your head in the sand instead of addressing what’s out there isn’t accepted here then I guess the kool-ade has done it’s work.
And if you don’t want to encourage a fellow HRC supporter and instead think you should scold them for not always sucking it up, like I said, scroll on past.

When I was at the county convention Saturday, they gave me a Texas democrat sticker for my truck, I am putting it on and will put a McCain sticker on right beside it if they make Hillary get out before the votes are counted in Florida and Michigan!!

After seeing the before and after answers on the questionaires Obama put his name on, they reveal, in stark contrast, what he will say to get elected (when you’re watching), and how he wants to govern (when its too late); Before:Mature, pragmatic, man of the people. Just a nice, regular guy. After: Anti-America, anti-capitalist, big government liberal, ie: Marxist.

Guys, that is why they are pushing so hard. BO’s supporters fear a big win in PA that will change the narrative. They also sense (not from the polls that poll hardcore dems but from the feeling out in the general electorate) that the zeitgeist is starting to shift. I see it myself. The vast majority of posters at Politico used to be slavering fools for BO. Now the tone is pretty negative. That is why they are pushing so hard now – they sense her strength.

We must steps up our efforts in response – call PA, visit a state if you can, donate if you can, write a SD, write an editorial. Stand Tall. I will post again my favorite WC quote….

Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School

Basil, we all know what Obama is doing. He’s trying to make himself appear inevitable. So we know how well that worked out for Hill. I just don’t see the point of getting bogged down in the final strech.

Today’s Ras:

42 Obama
40 Hill

So, Dem’s are undecided. That’s not good news for a supposed front runner.

If anything, your post just now to me was 10 times nastier than anything I have ever said to you. I’m fine with scrolling past your posts. If you want to whine go right, ahead. If you want to support, go right ahead.

I commented on one thing and one thing only. I’ll apologize if it makes you feel better and just keep my thoughts to myself from now on. Obviously not welcome.

Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School

Q: How many fundraisers has Mr. Rezko hosted for you? Were these all in his home? How much would you estimate he has raised for your campaigns?

A: He hosted one event at his home in 2003 for my U.S. Senate campaign. He participated as a member of a host committee for several other events. My best estimate was that he raised somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000.

But it turns out that number isn’t even close, and it’s now being reported as upwards of 200,000, and some of that was given illegally – and much of it after Rezko was in trouble.

An ABC News review of campaign records shows Rezko, and people connected to him, contributed more than $120,000 to Obama’s 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate, much of it at a time when Rezko was the target of an FBI investigation.

“It surprised me that late in the game he [Obama] continued to take contributions from somebody who was under a rather dark cloud in the state,” said Cynthia Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a group that has worked closely with Obama and supported his legislative efforts.

A recent LA Times piece:

By Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 3, 2008

Between the first $2,000 state Senate donation and the 2004 U.S. Senate race, Rezko raised at least $200,000 for him, a Times analysis shows. Obama, seeking to distance himself from his patron, has donated $160,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity.

My one wish is the Hillarlly will start speaking to the media farce in her rallies. TAKE it to the people and tell them to listen to HER on her stump speech and to turn off the tv pundits who continue to want to bury her. Tell them to use THEIR own head and not listen to the pundits who are out to stir trouble it

linfar, (or anyone else)
That was a great mydd post. As you can see, I have a amassed some detail on BO’s inconsistencies re: wright, rezko, voting and now – this liberal questionaire thing. I think it would make a great diary but I don’t have an account over at mydd. Want to collaborate?

what is making me mad is that the pundits are comparing what is happening now and what happened in 1980. They say people just like us threatening to cross over and vote republicans and then they didn’t. I don’t know about you guys, but I am about as serious as a heart attack! I will crossover and will not be back!

“Sen. Clinton’s plan is a great plan” that closely resembles John Edwards’ proposal, she said. Clinton’s plan mandates that every American be insured. Elizabeth Edwards said only universal healthcare would resolve one of the problems plaguing the healthcare system — its soaring cost.

“Until we get rid of the need for hospitals and other providers to cover the costs of people who are not covered . . . the overall cost is not going to go down,” she said. “The only real cost savings comes when you have universality.”

We have to work hard because unfortunately people do fall for these like this. I was not exactly surprised with Leahy, Richardson, and Casey as they want to help bring back the momentum to Obama’s camp after he suffered the Wright controversy which is far from over. People are questioning his judgment or lack thereof for continuing to be a part of his congretation after 20 or so years. But we have to work on what’s being REPORTED because these are what is being ‘read’ by the people. its up to the grassroots to work hard to say HEY ITS FAR FROM OVER!

As for Obama, he had 20,000 people at PSU (look at Hardball, its doing Campus Tour and Obama will be on Wednesday) and we all know MSNBC loves Obama. Plus some said Obama wanted to have a full stadium so to prove that his campaign isn’t over, oh please it is!

Donna Brazile, Sunday morning on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” pointed out that, anyone with math skills can see that those delegates are not going to be recognized, because the credentials committee will be dominated by members from states won by Barak Obama.
Brazile : I think we have an exit strategy in the Democratic party to end the primary season on June 10th… that’s the end of the primary season based on the rules, and after all this is about the rules…. So sometime before July 4th, I am clear that the superdelegates will break one way or another and this thing will end… Whoever is coming up with this new strategy is not looking at the map again. Howard Dean has already appointed 25 members [of the credentials committeee]. The states will send 3 persons, 3 people to the convention, on the credentials committee. Obama has won more states.
Stephanopoulos: Far more.
Brazile: Far more. So, do the math…
Stephanopoulos: This is an important point…You’re saying unless there’s some dramatic change, some dramatic Obama collapse, that Clinton can’t win at the credentials committee.
Brazile: Forty-eight states complied with the rules. Why would they all of a sudden change the rules?

I went to the convention rules, published by the Democratic National Committee, and they state:
(Sec VII., A 1, under “Standing Committees on Platform, Rules and Credentials of the 2008 Deomcratic National Convention”):
A. Membership: Subject to Rule 20.C. of the Delegate Selection Rules, each standing committee
shall be composed of:
1. Base: A base of 161 members, casting 158 votes, allocated to the states and territories in
accordance with the same distribution formula used to allocate delegates to the
Democratic National Convention.
Section B2 goes on to state they will be elected by each states delegation.
In other words Brazile’s basic statement, that the Credentials Committee is made up of 3 members per state, is wrong. It’s made up a delegation of 158 votes, allocated to each state in the same proportion as the pledged delegates are.
What does this change? It could change much; each state elects their own credential committee members; and Clinton won states with the most Electoral College votes. She just might have a majority on the Credential Committee right now. Update in a few after I do some more addition.
UPDATE II: As of right now (based on already resolved state primaries), from these states: New Hampshire, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Ohio: Clinton will have 61.44 votes on the Credentials Committee.
From these states: Iowa, South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Vermont, Wyoming, Mississippi, Obama will have 70.22 votes on the credentials committee.
States I haven’t counted in: Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana, South Dakota, Democrats Abroad, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, which make up 26.33 votes remaining.
Thus, there is a razor thin margin here, where indeed Clinton has more of a chance in a credentials fight than Donna Brazille’s (incorrect) division of votes. With the 25 DNC members, and 26.33 members still to be elected in future primaries, a majority on the credentials committee can be had by either candidate.
The credentials committee will submit their majoity report to the convention floor, which will state who is credentialed and who is not. Further to the DNC rules (in the same document above, Sec VII, B, 2), a minority of the committee composed of only 20% of its membership may submit a minority report, which will be voted on at the convention floor, too.
dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/30/125512/545/1006/487172

As of right now (based on already resolved state primaries), from these states: New Hampshire, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Ohio: Clinton will have 61.44 votes on the Credentials Committee.
From these states: Iowa, South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Vermont, Wyoming, Mississippi, Obama will have 70.22 votes on the credentials committee.
States I haven’t counted in: Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana, South Dakota, Democrats Abroad, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, which make up 26.33 votes remaining.
Thus, there is a razor thin margin here, where indeed Clinton has more of a chance in a credentials fight than Donna Brazille’s (incorrect) division of votes. With the 25 DNC members, and 26.33 members still to be elected in future primaries, a majority on the credentials committee can be had by either candidate.
w w w . talkleft.com/story/2008/3/30/183834/429

So who is the Credentials Committee?

Every standing committee of the Convention has three chairs and its membership includes twenty-five party leaders/elected officials nominated by Howard Dean and 161 other members elected by the state delegations. The three chairs for the 2008 Credentials Committee are Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt Jr., and Eliseo Roques-Arroyo. None of the three donated to any of the presidential campaigns, though Alexis Herman did donate to Clinton’s Senate campaign. All three are also unaffiliated super delegates. More interesting however, is that Alexis Herman was Labor Secretary under President Clinton and Roosevelt was an Associate Commissioner in the Clinton-era Social Security Administration. Of the 25 party leaders and elected officials, three were Clinton super delegates at the time of this writing. The chairs and party leaders/elected officials will not have full control over the outcome of committee decisions, but they will have a lot of influence.

The make-up of the Credentials Committee chairs helps define the problem for Obama going into the convention. Many of those attending have worked for or with the Clintons at one time or another. That does not guarantee they will support Senator Clinton, but it certainly gives the Clinton campaign an edge in wheeling and dealing at the Convention. That edge, both on the Credentials Committee and with the Convention as a whole, could be all Senator Clinton needs if the campaign goes to Denver.

Just heard on Limbaugh, a gentleman called in and said that he was completely disgusted with the media fawning over Obama. Rush asked him ifhew as for Hillary, and he said yes.
Rush said, if they continue to treat her like a girl (he is evil but smart)) and she doesn’t get in, what will you do.

He said, I can tell you that the state of NY will go for McCain overwhelmingly.

After the man hung up, Rush said, just as I thought, I trust my instincts and they have nevr been wrong.

We are going off a clift with Obama and pissing off Hill’s supporters. I can feel it. At http://www.pollster.com, Mickey Kaus wrote an article about the ‘reverse Bradley effect’ regarding Gallup polling. Makes for an interesting read.

Guys, for all of you who visit or post over at http://www.taylormarsh.com, please take up Professor Heidi’s challenge and post the receiptover at TM’s site or you MUST donate through her link.

I’ve donated twice this past weekend and her match went to Taylor Marsh. She is legit. We all just want to help Hill get up to $3m today. Please donate

*******************************
Dear all,
For those who want to emphasize the positive and show respect, I’d like to propose one more match program in honor of Maya Angelou and her beautiful poem.

We all know that Senator Clinton wants to hit and surpass $3 million by midnight tonight. Here’s what I propose: for every donation made to Senator Clinton via THIS LINK http://www.hillaryclinton.com/contribute/ETCV,
I will make a matching donation to the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health, http://tinyurl.com/2wvknj, at Wake Forest where Dr. Angelou also holds a genuine professorship.

If you use the link above no need to send me a receipt. If you want to see the match receipt for my contribution to the Maya Angelou Research Center or would like me to memorialize or honor you or somebody you know when I match, please email via my blog or website, http://www.heidilifeldman.com.

Good morning, some of us we’re discussing this rumor last night – poster on Taylor Marsh found this:

From TPM about the NC delegation endorsing Obama as a block or at all. It is NOT TRUE:

But the Obama campaign says it just isn’t so. Obama aides say that the only House member to signal support for Obama, either publicly or privately, is G.K. Butterfield. Obama spokesperson Josh Earnest emails over this:

“We’re pleased to have the support of Rep. Butterfield and are working to earn the endorsement of his colleagues in the NC Congressional delegation. Despite the Wall Street Journal’s optimism, none of them has told our campaign that they are ready to announce their endorsement of Senator Obama — so we’ll keep working on it.”

It’s possible, of course, that some of them signaled that they would be supporting him but weren’t ready to announce it yet. Also, the Obama campaign has good reason to tamp down such talk right now — it would be a far more powerful statement if such a thing were to happen after Obama’s expected loss in Pennsylvania, as it would signal that the loss hadn’t slowed Obama’s momentum.

Keep in mind, though, that the Obama campaign recently denied another similar rumor — the idea that a bloc of 50 super-dels were ready to bolt in his direction en masse — and that didn’t end up happening, either.

How many people want to hazard a guess Obama’s camp is worried about how all this talk looks and what it may have to do with the Edwards rumor?
bdestini | 03.31.2008 – 12:06 pm | #
OT, but please read this wonderfu

This entry is part of a series in celebration of Women’s History Month.

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits end, but she has always risen, always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends.

Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her.

There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you’re born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But, to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies.

Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has been there and done that and has still risen. She is in this race for the long haul. She intends to make a difference in our country.

She is the prayer of every woman and man who long for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.

She declares she wants to see more smiles in the families, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace. Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to what it can become.

She means to rise.

She means to help our country rise. Don’t give up on her, ever.

In fact, if you help her to rise, you will rise with her and help her make this country a wonderful, wonderful place where every man and every woman can live freely without sanctimonious piety, without crippling fear.

I know I’m doing a lot of cutting and pasting – another TM poster saw this:

Should Obama Drop Out of the Race?
by Bill Press
posted on HUFFPO

What happened to the Democratic Party?

I’m a lifelong Democrat. I’ve volunteered in countless Democratic campaigns. I’ve managed campaigns for Democrats. I was a Democratic candidate for statewide office in California. For three years, I was Chair of the California Democratic Party. But I don’t recognize the Democratic Party today.

The party I knew loved a good fight, loved debating the issues, recognized the value of a high-profile, hard-fought primary battle — and believed in giving everyone a fair shot. Today, the Democratic Party’s turned into a bunch of weak-willed weenies.

What’s going on? The party is blessed with two of the best candidates ever to run for president. The party’s making history with the first African-American and the first woman having a serious shot at the presidency. In every state, the Democratic primary is attracting record numbers of new voters and building a huge, new pool of Democrats that will benefit all Democratic candidates in November. And how do party leaders respond? By trying to shut down the primary. This is insane!

Bill Richardson endorses Barack Obama. Good for him. But he can’t stop there. He calls on Hillary Clinton to get out of the race. Patrick Leahy and Chris Dodd endorse Obama. Good for them, too. But, same thing. Both feel somehow compelled to add that Clinton should quit. Why? There is no more rationale for Clinton to drop out of the race than there is for Obama to drop out of the race.

True, Clinton hasn’t locked up the nomination yet. But neither has Obama. True, even if she wins every delegate in every remaining primary, Clinton can not reach the magic 2024 delegates necessary to secure the nomination. But neither can Obama. True, Obama leads in delegates, the number of states won, and popular vote. But Clinton leads in electoral votes.

Plus, and here’s the most important point: It’s not over yet. Until it is, we can’t be sure of the outcome. And it would be a big mistake to end it prematurely. There’s been many a boxing match where one fighter won 14 rounds, only to get knocked out in the 15th.

All these Obama supporters calling on Clinton to drop out aren’t helping their candidate, either. They make Obama look like he’s afraid of a fight. And they themselves look like a stereotypical bunch of men telling a woman she can’t hack it in politics, so she might as well get back in the kitchen.

No, Hillary Clinton should not quit this race. And neither should Barack Obama. They’re both great candidates. Either one of them will make a great president. So let the primaries continue and let the voters decide. If Obama ends up the nominee, I’ll do handstands on the White House lawn. But only if he wins it, fair and square.

since I’m from CA – this excerpt was in Time Magazine.com: time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1726536,00.html

Bob Rankin, an uncommitted superdelegate from Carson, near Long Beach, was still figuring out how to make up his mind.

While Obama leads nationally in the popular vote and in pledged delegates, Clinton won both overwhelmingly in California. Voters in Rankin’s congressional district chose Obama, while his congresswoman, Laura Richardson, backed Clinton.

Rankin said Obama called him two weeks ago to urge him to make up his mind.
“He wanted to end this thing now for the good of the party,” Rankin said. “I told him I was not ready to do that.”

Rankin also received an invitation to attend a private meeting for superdelegates with Bill Clinton at the convention Sunday morning, but turned it down because he planned to leave a day early. He said he’ll make up his mind after all the voters have had their say.

“I feel they need to be heard,” he said.
[From the same article: Bill Clinton was in CA over this weekend to present to the SD’s]

Of those who have made up their minds in California, Clinton is far ahead, according to a survey by The Associated Press. She has 29 superdelegates to Obama’s 13. Twenty-one are undecided or say they will not commit before the party’s national convention in August. Two have not responded.

California will have one more delegate when the San Francisco Bay area congressional seat left vacant by the death of Tom Lantos is filled.

Five others will be appointed by the party on May 18, bringing the total to 71.

Clinton delivered a similar message during a private meeting with a couple dozen superdelegates before the speech.

“He talked a little bit about letting the process play out,” said Christine Pelosi, an undecided superdelegate from San Francisco who attended and described Clinton as “very good, very intense.” Pelosi is the daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

March 31st, 2008 at 12:46 am
Edwards is not going to go against the entire NC delegation. If he was, he would by now. Cowards, the Democrats are a bunch of cowards. I will NEVER vote for this guy!

***************************From listening to Kerry’s remarks on Stephanopolous show yesterday, he said that Hillary’s mandate makes UHC a non starter. Edwards plan is exactly like Hillarys. I can’t see him endorsing Obama, either Hill or neutral.

Mickey Kaus has been arguing over the last week that the greater emphasis on racial issues in the Clinton-Obama nomination contest may have caused a return of the so-called Bradley-Wilder effect. The term refers to a pattern observed in the 1980s and early 1990s when the white opponents of African American candidates would do better on election day than indicated in pre-election polls (explained in more detail here, links to other sources here). Kaus thinks we may have evidence of a re-emergence of Bradley-Wilder in the results from the Gallup Daily and the Rasmussen Reports automated tracking surveys. Last Sunday, he wrote:

Gallup’s national tracking poll has Obama retaking the lead over Hillary after bottoming out on the day of his big race speech. Rasmussen’s robo-poll, on the other hand, shows Obama losing ground since last Tuesday. True, even Rasmussen doesn’t seem to be putting a lot of emphasis on his survey’s 6-point shift. But isn’t this week’s primary race exactly the sort of environment–i.e.., the issue of race is in the air–when robo-polling is supposed to have an advantage over the conventional human telephone polling used by Gallup? Voters wary of looking like bigots to a live operator–‘and why didn’t you like Obama’s plea for mutual for understanding that all the editorial pages liked?’–might lie about their opinions, a phenomenon known as the Bradley Effect. But they might be more willing to tell the truth to a machine. …

On Tuesday, I noted that the overall results from Gallup and Rasmussen were not that different when looking at data collected from March 14 (the day the Wright story broke) through the previous day:

Live Interviewer Gallup Daily: Clinton +2 (47% to 45)
Automated Rasmussen Reports: Obama +1 (45% to 44%)
Kaus updated his original post and responded that we should be focusing on the trends:

[I]f you look at the trend since Obama’s 3/18 speech–which is what arguably charged the campaign with high-minded condemnation of racism and MSM sympathy for Obama of the sort that might produce a Bradley Effect–Obama gains 6 points in Gallup and loses 6 in Rasmussen through last Friday (and he’s since lost one more on Rasmussen). That seems like a non-small difference. …

He has continued to note the difference:

[3/25] Obama has now lost a net of 8 points on Rasmussen since the 18th, and 11 points since the 14th. On Gallup, he’s gained several points.

[Yesterday] Bradley still in the race: Gallup (telephone poll) and Rasmussen (robo-poll) continue to diverge.

I have been puzzling over the trend and thought it would be helpful to post a chart of the data in question. In the chart below (click for a larger pop-up version), Kaus is focusing on the trends since the Obama/Wright speech on March 18. The dates on the chart are end-dates for each survey release. Keep in mind that Gallup reports a three-day rolling average, and Rasmussen reports a rolling four-day average, so the trend line reactions would theoretically lag slightly behind events.

If you overlook today’s release, the chart does show a largely divergent trend, though most of the difference occurs in the three to four days after the speech. However, if you step back and look at the complete time series, the Gallup and Rasmussen lines are no more divergent now than they have been all along. In fact, if you remove three days of live-interviewer Gallup data — the March 16-18 release which had Clinton (the white candidate) leading by seven points — the divergent trend largely disappears.

Yes, for the last week, Obama has done better in the Rasmussen (automated) survey than the Gallup (live interviewer) data, but the difference is on the same scale as similar gaps since January that have see-sawed back and forth, favoring neither candidate consistently. So call me crazy, but I just don’t see compelling evidence of a return of the Bradley-Wilder effect in these data, especially keeping in mind the potential for random variation in the trends.

One interesting pattern here — and to be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it — involves large gaps opposite of what we would expect from the Bradley-Wilder effect throughout much of January and again briefly centered on February 5/6 and March 18: At those times, the white candidate (Clinton) does better on the live-interviewer (Gallup) surveys than on the automated (Rasmussen) surveys. Also, as the charts below demonstrate, most of that difference occurs in the percentage supporting Clinton, not the percentage supporting Obama.

The difference in January may have had something to do with how the two surveys asked about other candidates still in the race, and the gaps afterward purely random, although that’s a pure guess. Anyone have any better theories?

By the way i am working on statistics for the tx caucus and i’ll let you know some interesting stuff when i find out, but needless to say theres been a lot of screwy business going on compared to the primaries.

One good thing i can tell you, El Paso went to Clinton in total 190% of 200% in those counties totals. Clinton took many counties, and get this for a statistic, Obama only won 1 county 100%, Clinton by my reckoning took 94 counties by 100%.

*****************************http://www.pollster.com
O up by 13 in NC- so we can safely say that the PPP poll showing him up 21 was an outlier. She can close this gap, I doubt that she will win but she can close gap.
March 31, 2008
POLL: ARG North Carolina Dems

heard that MSNBC did a segment on if Edwards endorsed Hillary it would be worse for her than better – of course, they’d take that position, jerkwads – wonder if they know something; trying to head it off at the pass. cross fingers.

posted over at ‘stop obama’ site
************************************************

On Obama’s election website Obama claims:

Obama has worked to promote civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career…As a civil rights lawyer, Obama litigated employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and voting rights cases. [liar’s homepage]
Articles in the press, like Law Graduate Obama Got His Start In Civil Rights Practice, give credence to the claim.

Trouble is, it’s just more Hussein-0 Bullshit. As with everything about Barry-0-The Bamboozling Zero- calling himself a “Civil Rights Lawyer ” and talking about “litigating” is like McDonald’s talking gourmet Pure, on the fly, instant and cheap, low-quality, transfat loaded BULLSHIT.

During his ten years as an associate with the Chicago law firm Miner Barnhill & Galland, Obama

“didn’t try any cases,” said Judson Miner, a partner in the firm who was Obama’s boss. [sun]
A search of all the cases in Cook County Circuit Court in which Obama made an appearance since he graduated from Harvard in 1991 shows: Zero. [sun]
Zero. That’s right, zero cases tried since graduating, and leaving the firm in 2003. Zero

Obama never took part in a trial. [Boston]
Never took part in a trial? Kidding me? What was he, in some massive lawfirm with no opportunities?

Small law firms such as Obama’s, with only a few attorneys, usually send young counsel into the courtroom to fight just as quickly as possible. Obama was never up to the task.[Martin]
wait, are we talking the same Obama who is running for US President? Didn’t he get a degree in Law from Harvard? Wasn’t he busy working on the Harvard Law Review (not a single article published, no proof of any work)

[Obama] never formally was counsel of record in any lawsuit. [Martin]
Can’t be. Come on? You must be talking about some Borat Hussein Ossama?

Nope- the very same, Barry: 0000000000000000.

Obama has made a career of defrauding the American public about his legal ‘career.
Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate, never filed a single appearance in a single case all of the years he was ‘practicing- law. [Martin]
What do those familiar with the legal profession think of this? They call it a

grossly inflated legal career as a ‘civil rights attorney.
– There was ‘no there, there.- [Martin]
and characterize Obama as a

an ‘Arm Candy Attorney.- Or, to put in a Palm Beachy sort of way, he was a ‘Walker.- In other words, he was almost always paid to show up in court, and do nothing more than be there. [Martin]
Paid to show up?

Obama’s hourly rate of $165. [sun]
Oh.. I suppose that’s what a Harvard Law Degree does, you get paid to show-up

he may have inflated his billing hours to bilk the opposing party. The bank paid. [Martin]
While Obama often brags about graduating from Harvard Law, there is nothing to brag about. He says he filed forms and did “research” but a paralegal I knew, with no law school background, regularly spends 80 hour weeks doing the same, and his hourly rate is… I don’t even want to mention it.

Compare Hobama’s record with Hillary, who the media love to despise and clown.

She was twice named among Americas 100 Most Influential Lawyers (1988/1990)… um, yes, before becoming first lady, or was it first councel?

Hillary Clinton, whom opposing counsel remember as a formidable adversary during 15 years as a litigator at Little Rock’s Rose Law Firm. [sun]
Conclusion?

March 31st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
heard that MSNBC did a segment on if Edwards endorsed Hillary it would be worse for her than better – of course, they’d take that position, jerkwads – wonder if they know something; trying to head it off at the pass. cross fingers.

She’s been ahead a while already in the popular vote OF DEMOCRATS. It’s only Obama’s crossover Inds and GOP that have put him ahead in the total. And the Wright thing is losing a lot of that Ind and GOP (even if it was sincere to begin with).

Also the elections she’s predicted to win — PA, PR, etc — will give her a lot more popular votes.

Video: Decision ’08
Why the race isn’t over
March 31: Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell join the Morning Joe team and break down future primaries and determine which Democrat will come out on top.
——————————————————————————–

Where They Stand
Democrats and the economy
McCain on the economy
Where They Stand: Candidates on Iraq
Immigration lies low in campaign — for now
Changing attitudes on immigration
Can politics heal health care?
It’s still the economy, stupid
Where candidates stand on education

updated 12:25 p.m. ET, Mon., March. 31, 2008
WASHINGTON – A Michigan congressman proposed an alternate plan Monday for seating the state’s delegates at the Democratic National Convention, awarding delegates based partly on Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary results and partly on the popular vote in all the nation’s presidential primaries.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., in a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, proposed that Michigan’s 83 pledged delegates be chosen at congressional district conventions according to the results of the state’s primary.

The party stripped both Michigan and Florida of their national convention delegates because they moved their primaries to January dates that were earlier than party rules allowed.

Story continues below ↓
——————————————————————————–
advertisement

——————————————————————————–

Under Stupak’s formula, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who received 55 percent of the primary vote, would receive 47 delegates.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who pulled his name from Michigan’s ballot, would receive 36 delegates. Many Obama supporters in Michigan voted for “uncommitted,” which received 40 percent in the primary.

The remaining 73 delegates would be awarded based on the percentage of the popular vote garnered nationwide by Clinton and Obama after the last Democratic presidential primary is completed.

“The last thing we want to do as Democrats is to disenfranchise voters,” Stupak wrote in the letter to Dean. “I have heard from countless Democratic and independent voters who are frustrated and angry to think that their votes are being ignored.”

Stupak endorsed former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in the primary and has remained neutral since Edwards dropped out of the race in January.

Michigan and Florida have been unable to reach agreements to redo their primaries. Any alternative vote would have to be completed by June 10 to be counted under DNC rules.

Stupak said in an interview that a redo vote in Michigan was a “dead deal” and he hoped party leaders would support an alternative. He discussed his plan with Clinton and Obama supporters in Michigan. “No one discouraged me,” he said.

In Florida, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who backs Clinton, has suggested seating all Florida delegates already chosen but only giving them half a vote each. Based on the Jan. 29 results in Florida, Clinton would have won 105, Obama 67 and John Edwards 13. Instead they would get half those delegate votes.

The Republican Party also penalized the two states for early primaries — by cutting their delegate totals in half.

Dean has said Michigan and Florida have two options: Either submit a new plan for choosing their convention delegates or appeal to the Convention Credentials Committee, which resolves issues about the seating of delegates.

As I told linfar in the comments, it is the best diary I have ever read on the site. It perfectly captures what all of us HRC supporters are feeling now, and does so with a warm, heartfelt touch.

Please read it. Not for me, but for yourself.

🙂

Also: Admin, I wanted to let you know that the diary I wrote the other day which included the video which I first found here of the jarring 9/11 footage and the dramatic “Lux Aeterna” song has been linked by several right-wing sites, including instapundit, Hot Air, and someone on redstate.

I just want to let you know that had it not been for you, that video would not have gotten anywhere NEAR the eyeballs it’s getting now. THANK YOU!

People need to see what’s coming our way if we nominate BHO.

I wrote both Hot Air and instapundit, and they now each have ‘updates’ up which properly gives you the credit for being my source for the video. Just want you to know we’re looking out for you as you are us.
Hot Air has a link to this site, and instapundit posted the email I sent him which gives this site the credit it deserves for being my source. Additionally, instapundit has one other blog linked where I wrote more about the video and the music in it. I actually joined Hot Air (can’t believe I joined a right wing blog!) so I could comment on Ed Morrissey’s (sp?) take on my diary, etc. I posted something but it hasn’t gone through yet. I do think, however, many here might be interested in what Morrissey said and what his commenters said also.

You know what, I’ll go get the links and save everyone a lot of hassle. BRB.

you know, this guy, and the power he seems to have just scares me to death. Everytime I read that he has been able to pull crap off, the more I know that I will vote against my party in the general if he gets the nod!

As I told linfar in the comments, it is the best diary I have ever read on the site. It perfectly captures what all of us HRC supporters are feeling now, and does so with a warm, heartfelt touch.

Please read it. Not for me, but for yourself.

🙂

Also: Admin, I wanted to let you know that the diary I wrote the other day which included the video which I first found here of the jarring 9/11 footage and the dramatic “Lux Aeterna” song has been linked by several right-wing sites, including instapundit, Hot Air, and someone on redstate.

I just want to let you know that had it not been for you, that video would not have gotten anywhere NEAR the eyeballs it’s getting now. THANK YOU!

People need to see what’s coming our way if we nominate BHO.

I wrote both Hot Air and instapundit, and they now each have ‘updates’ up which properly gives you the credit for being my source for the video. Just want you to know we’re looking out for you as you are us.
Hot Air has a link to this site, and instapundit posted the email I sent him which gives this site the credit it deserves for being my source. Additionally, instapundit has one other blog linked where I wrote more about the video and the music in it. I actually joined Hot Air (can’t believe I joined a right wing blog!) so I could comment on Ed Morrissey’s (sp?) take on my diary, etc. I posted something but it hasn’t gone through yet. I do think, however, many here might be interested in what Morrissey said and what his commenters said also.

You know what, I’ll go get the links and save everyone a lot of hassle. BRB.

michigan compromise but fl must stand as voted. that gives bambi votes he advocated against in Michigan which is more, more than fair. Give Hillary the % of votes she won in Michigan popular vote, bambi and she split the other cause he and Edwards done that deal

Can anybody tell me how to post an e-mail I got from a republican friend of mine? It clearly shows what they are thinking about the Obamas and how they will go against him in the general? We sure need to get this e-mail to the Super D’s. This friend of mine is a staunch republican. There no way this man will win the general, theyare going after his patriotism as well as Michelle’s! Maybe someone can tell me where I should post it for maximum benefit!

Quotes to motivate us while we battle through this WEAK brain washing attempt by TEAM OBAMA.:

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face… The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it… You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

the republicans are salivating at the idea of running against him. Don’t you realize they are right this minute figuring the most competent ecomonic bigwhig who is also as a patriot with a really nice spouse to add to team McCain. Yep, they getting ready.

Finally, the link to that AWESOME song which is used
in the video (I had to find out what it was. It’s called ‘Lux Aeterna’ by Clint Mansell, and was originally used in the movie “Requiem for a Dream.” This link is to a longer remix, the one which I think is used in the video
admin posted. Warning: This song is very addictive :)):

Quotes to motivate us while we battle through this WEAK brain washing attempt by TEAM OBAMA.:

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a (wo)man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”
– Albert Einstein

Btw: To those in the media who keep talking about Obama’s paid rallies my reply is this quote.:

Emjay, if you read this I want to let you know that I saw your message asking me if I were still here yesterday. I tend to back and forth to this site, but if you want to tell or ask me something, I should see it.

WASHINGTON — A senior Democratic lawmaker says Senator Clinton’s proposed health care mandate would be a “nonstarter” in the Senate, ratchetting up the rhetoric on an issue that once united Democrats.

The criticism from Senator Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, of the core element of Mrs. Clinton’s domestic platform signals a sharper intraparty divide over health care policy heading into the fall.

“Let me just tell you that Hillary Clinton’s plan in the United States Senate is a nonstarter, because it starts with a mandate that is unachievable in the Senate in what we need to do,” Mr. Kerry, a top supporter of Mrs. Clinton’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Obama, said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.” Mr. Kerry’s 2004 running mate, John Edwards, proposed virtually the same mandate as Mrs. Clinton when he was running for president earlier this year. The former first lady’s health care plan would require all Americans to purchase insurance, while Mr. Obama’s proposal requires only children to be covered.

Mr. Kerry’s remarks represent one of the harshest denunciations of Mrs. Clinton from a policy standpoint in a campaign that has seen relatively few major divides on substantive issues.

Mr. Obama generally has criticized Mrs. Clinton’s plan on its merits rather than on its political feasibility, arguing that the mandate would unfairly penalize people who want insurance but cannot afford it. Mrs. Clinton in turn has accused Mr. Obama of lacking political courage for refusing to include a mandate, which she says is essential to assuring that every American has health care.

“Barack Obama starts with children and works up to a system where, at the back end, you may have a mandate, you will get to universal coverage. But he does it in a way that’s going to give Republicans the opportunity to be able to play at the table,” Mr. Kerry said.

In 2006, the Massachusetts senator proposed his own plan for universal health care that would have mandated coverage for all Americans beginning in 2012.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Howard Wolfson, responded: “We don’t believe that health care legislation that covers every American is a nonstarter; in fact, we believe it is essential to ensuring that every American gets the health care they need.”

Though Republicans have criticized both Mr. Obama’s and Mrs. Clinton’s health care plans, they have not been unanimously opposed to insurance mandates. Proposals endorsed by Governor Schwarzenegger in California and Governor Romney in Massachusetts, both Republicans, have included individual requirements for coverage, and a bill with a mandate introduced in Congress by Senator Wyden of Oregon was cosponsored by eight Republicans. Mrs. Clinton’s proposal “does seem to me to be a plan that has the potential to achieve bipartisan support in the Congress,” a scholar at the Center for American Progress who served as policy director for the Edwards campaign, James Kvaal, said. Health care mandates have “historically been an idea that has some support among Republicans, ” he said, because of their element of individual accountability and responsibility.

This is unfortunate, but it needs to be read to have an understanding of our political choices.

OBAMA’S MILITANT RACISM REVEALED

In her senior thesis at Princeton, Michele Obama, the wife of Barack Obama stated that America was a nation founded on”crime and hatred”. Moreover, she stated that whites in America were “ineradicably racist”. The 1985 thesis, titled “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community” was written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson.

Michelle Obama stated in her thesis that to “Whites at Princeton , it often seems as if, to them, she will always be Black first…” However, it was reported by a fellow black classmate, “If those “Whites at Princeton ” really saw Michelle as one who always would “be Black first,” it seems that she gave them that impression”.

Most alarming is Michele Obama’s use of the terms “separationist” and “integrationist” when describing the views of black people.

“By actually working with the Black lower class or within their communities as a result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desperation of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an integrationist who is ignorant to their plight.”

Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her “further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant.”

Michele Obama clearly has a chip on her shoulder.

Not only does she see separate black and white societies in America , but she elevates black over white in her world.

Here is another passage that is uncomfortable and ominous in meaning:

“There was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the black community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit the black community first and foremost. ”

What is Michelle Obama planning to do with her future resources if she’s first lady that will elevate black over white in America ?

The following passage appears to be a call to arms for affirmative action policies that could be the hallmark of an Obama administration.

“Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of their enrollments.”

The conclusion of her thesis is alarming.

Michelle Obama’s poll of black alumni concludes that other black students at Princeton do not share her obsession with blackness. But rather than celebrate, she is horrified that black alumni identify with our common American culture more than they value the color of their skin. “I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.”

Is it no wonder that most black alumni ignored her racist questionnaire? Only 89 students responded out of 400 who were asked for input.

Michelle Obama does not look into a crowd of Obama supporters and see American s. She sees black people and white people eternally conflicted with one another.

The thesis provides a trove of Mrs. Obama’s thoughts and world view seen through a race-based prism.

This is a very divisive view for a potential first lady that would do untold damage to race relations in this country in a Barack Obama administration.

Now maybe she’s changed, but she sure sounds like someone with an axe to grind with America . Will the press let Michelle get a free pass over her obviously racist comment about American whites? I am sure that it will.

The Clintons made a lot of enemies with old-style dems because they didn’t beleive that the ultra-liberal wing of the party could win (based on some pretty hefty losses in 1972 – 49 states, 1980 – 45 states, 1984 – 49 states and 1988 – 40 states). So they distanced themselves from the DNC and were part of founding the Democratic leadership council. A group that more closely reflected the views of the centrist wing of the party.

Then what happened……first two-term democratic president in 60 years.

This race is the revenge of the ultra-liberal DNC. That is the real game being played here. Anyone hanging around hard-core democratic politics for any length of time knows that.

If the Ted Kennedy wing of the party wins with their chosen one, dems will lose by 45+ states again.

the above was an e-mail of a republican friend of mine! I ve been sending her all the good stuff on Obama and She is the one that sent me that pic of Obama with the upside down phone. I put that on the net several months ago, It sure has gained popularity!

admin, universal–I think the video of 9/11 intercut with Rev. Wright is incredibly powerful and speaks to the issue of Obama’s electability–Not!!

I hope everyone will make sure that video gets around everywhere. Not just the rightwing sites. I think the SDs need to see it. It packs a powerful blow to the idea that Obama is electable. He just isn’t. And that video says so quickly.

The difficult thing about being a Hillary supporter is it’s hard to find good news on her. You rely on other supporters for morale, because ya sure ain’t gonna get it from blogs, MSM or friends or family. Maybe that’s why HIll groups are a tight bunch.

PA can’t come soon enough. Hillary’s being smacked in the media and the only thing that will shut them up temporarily is a big win there. Just like CA, OH, and TX shut them up for a day.

I also wanted to let you folks know that the Obamatrons have put out a whole new bunch of youtube videos with Wright speaking about love and encouragement over the old ones. Every one of the new videos have been viewed over 1/2 millions times. So maybe thats why people are saying they’ve had no effect?

March 31st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
The difficult thing about being a Hillary supporter is it’s hard to find good news on her. You rely on other supporters for morale, because ya sure ain’t gonna get it from blogs, MSM or friends or family. Maybe that’s why HIll groups are a tight bunch.
*****************************************************

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. ”
— Margaret Mead

please recommend this diary at mydd. it is a timeline of women’s contributions to american political history. a member of my grassroots organization compiled this information, and it would mean the world to her if she appeared on the mydd recommended list.

i also reproduced her timeline at other blogs. do it for my friend, and do it for hillary.

Here’s an example of the sort of sensible commentary that is showing up in local papers, by local commentators, including well-researched statistics on crime and key quotes from Wright.

And we need more ranting and raving, more boiling with rage?

Does Obama think it improves matters when black leaders tell blacks that they’re poor, sick, jailed or hooked on drugs because of a government plot? Does it help to fix things if the choir is singing “The devil made me do it,” the white devil?
….
For 20 years, Barack Obama drank the aforementioned Kool-Aid, never seeing the problem. That makes him a problem.

[author] is an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University and a local restaurateur.

This is NOT something that’s going to wash away with the next MSM cycle.

“The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.”
— Abraham Lincoln

That’s why we must NEVER give up and keep on fighting, do not pay attention to these lying polls, the shrills to surrender from idots, fools and backstabbers.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
— Abraham Lincoln

Since we’ve seen Obama’s character with the little bit of power he has been given…we now know that his character is WEAK, A BIG FAT LIAR and a BIGOT. He’d threw his Grandmomma under the train, Geraldine Ferraro under the train, burning bridges Blacks better then him built for his “Cult of Personality” campaign for the POTUS.

Do you like this post? Click to Buzz it up! Buzz up!
AOL News reports this:

Despite calls for his rival to drop out of their tight race for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama said Saturday, “My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants.”

Note the tepid and dismissive “Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants.” In one carefully chosen short phrase, Barack Obama uses a verb form that bestows his permission, as if she needs it, while at the same time subtly belittling her because she is staying in the race. Both of these rhetorical techniques aim to diminish one’s opponent while seeming to be gallant and awarding oneself the cloak of the putative front runner who can afford to be generous.

But is he the front runner?

Within the same AOL news article is a straw poll asking who readers would vote for. Click on the map and you see that Clinton wins over Obama 52%-48%. To be sure it is an unreliable self-selected poll. Possibly Hillary’s numbers are inflated by other people like me who never before voted in those straw polls but who are so insulted by the Obama-supporting pundits and politicians incessantly hammering their “she should quit” nail that we have taken to clicking for Clinton every chance we get. Even the Wall Street Journal has acknowledged the blatant sexism and rampant bias.

On the other hand, the facts are that national polls show the two candidates still volleying back and forth. It made sense for the other candidates to end their campaigns — Dodd and Biden at low double digits in the polls, and even John Edwards whose contributions were drying up after too many third-place showings in the early primaries and caucuses. But remind me again, why is it that Clinton should quit but Obama should stay in the race when their delegate count is separated by just 133 and Clinton keeps winning the big states the Democrats must have in November to capture the White House?

Perhaps Obama should live up to his gallantry, throw down his cloak Sir Walter Raleigh-esque so the lady can walk over the latest mud slung against her, and into the nomination gracefully. After all, she is the elder, she is the senior of the two senators, she was in this race first, and she has an enormous constituency. In all other aspects of life, the etiquette would be to let her go first.

Ann, My friend emailed me that she verified them on snopes.com, but I will see her at work on THursday and ask her where she got this e-mail. I live in a very red area, I am sure they are circulating alot of stuff on them and she sends it to me along with Hillary’s just to irritate me. I have always sent her stuff about Bush the Texas God to her. Its all in fun, no one means any harm!! We just play that game at work to kill time!!

hey All – just a headsup – if you have anything related to Trinity Church – save it, make it a PDF, screenshots, whatever…Michelle Obama’s thesis that was once posted on Politico…etc. blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/whos-scrubbing.html?cid=108907406#comment-108907406

Who’s Scrubbing the Trinity United Church of Christ Website?

March 31, 2008 2:34 PM

The website for Sen. Barack Obama’s church — Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago — not long ago described the “Black Value System” in the “About Us” section of its website.

And it used to provide a link to the Trumpet Magazine that once gave an award to Louis Farrakhan — a magazine published by Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s daughter.

No longer.

You can see the old webpage, including both the Black Value System and a link to Trumpet HERE

Interestingly, Trumpet used to have a web presence and now it doesn’t seem to.

Here’s the Google cache of the Trumpet Magazine heralding Louis Farrakhan (“When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens,” says the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright,likening the Minister’s influence to the E. F. Hutton commercials of old. “Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen…Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience.”)

Through a web archive search I also found THIS ARTICLE from the September 2005 Trumpet, in which Rev. Wright wrote: “Conservative fanatics line up on the side of al-Qaeda or they line up behind George Bush. Both are terrorists! Both believe that war is the answer. Both believe in murdering innocent people…”

Some of us over at TM are starting a drive to get people to change their party affiliation from Democratic to “Decline to State.” This is only for those that HAVE ALREADY voted and in which their state allows multiple changes. The idea is we switch parties until Florida and MI are counted. Here is my letter to the DNC.

Dear DNC,

Today I left the Democratic Party and joined the ranks of the “declined to state.” I did this because the Democratic Party is not standing up for voters rights by disenfranchising voters in FL and MI. I also did this because of the calls for Hillary Clinton to quit and to stop counting the votes, as well as for all the back room dealing I am hearing about from the likes of Donna Braizile and others.

A group of us are starting a drive to get people to leave the Democratic Party until all of this stops. My question to you is:

Is the DNC notified by state offices when people re-register and leave the party? Please explain to me how this works.

(“When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens,” says the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright,likening the Minister’s influence to the E. F. Hutton commercials of old. “Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen…Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience.”)

Through a web archive search I also found THIS ARTICLE

from the September 2005 Trumpet, in which Rev. Wright wrote: “Conservative fanatics line up on the side of al-Qaeda or they line up behind George Bush. Both are terrorists! Both believe that war is the answer. Both believe in murdering innocent people…”

Also Taylor Marsh has a post about Trinity church being in the process of scrubbing their website. Does anyone here have screen shots of their website? I would like to pass the info on to the folks at TM.

Solutions for the Pennsylvania Economy Tour
On Monday Hillary kicks off a three-day trip to Pennsylvania, where she will continue to discuss real solutions on her economic tour. Hillary will hold “Solutions for the Pennsylvania Economy” events in Harrisburg, Fairless Hills, Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre, Erie and Pittsburgh. She will wrap up the tour with an economic summit in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Additional stops and details will be announced. Check out our website for information about additional “Upcoming Events”: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/pa

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion — positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he has projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize[d] his position.”

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago nonprofit group that issued it. And it found that Obama — the day after sitting for the interview — filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes added to one answer.

(I love it when the media is targeted – I love it when the media looks like deer in the headlight when they’re spotted to be in the tank for Obama)

I’m not sure if anyone has posted this already: My husband told me this afternoon that he listened to O’Reilly’s radio show and that O’Reilly will be revealing the names of three media outlets who were contacted by the Obama campaign last week and were told to start the “Hillary Must Drop Out” theme. O’Reilly is going to talk about this on his show tonight on Fox.
Dr TS | 03.31.2008 – 3:48 pm | #

“Well, if “the party” means those guys, then what is the loss? It appears to me some demolition needs doing.”

Yes. The ‘party’ doesn’t get it. The ‘party’ looks ridiculous, even to Democratic voters. The Michigan-Florida fiasco is a failure of leadership by Howard Dean. (O-bots can babble about rules all they want.) All this confusion over superdelegates. Why do we have superdelegates in the first place if they are just supposed to follow the pledged delegates? No one can answer.

The ‘party’ looks ridiculous — Dean, Kennedy-Kerry, Pelosi are reinforcing the worst stereotypes of the Democratic Party — confused, weak, paralyzed by political correctness, incapable of strong, direct action. This is doing damage to the Democratic Party.

i was just asking if anyone had heard anything. i have an hrc news alert and as that article was published i rec’d it. putting in more than 20 hours per week the last thing i want is for her to quit because that means i start working for mccain.

carbynew, I’m just saying that you need an army to make things happen. Obama’s got it so easy. Everything seems so difficult for Hillary b/c no one is on her side. She’s got to fight for everything.

I thought after the whole Wright thing that she’d take the delegates in TX, but people just aren’t paying attention. Maybe they just don’t care. They want Obama and aren’t open to anything negative about that guy.

filberts – we did a good job in TX – just think that the margin would’ve been worse had we not been there…I have no regrets. We helped her pull out a victory overall – Austin was probably a lost cause in terms of votes, but Austin Clinton office fielded thousands of calls from all over Texas to instruct people on a whole range of primary and caucus processes.

I think same with PA – we need the largest margin possible, even though we know she will win – and the only way is to GOTV on the ground.

alot of folks stayed home at my county convention, many delegates did not show up and the obamatron’s came in force with friends to watch. if that happened here in little houston county, you know it happen everywhere. I am sure that dean got the desired effect he wanted by saying what he said on Friday!! I overheard many obamatrons talking about dean and the rest asking her to get out. That was the plan folks and it worked!

hey all – I’m a bit worried about this Michelle Obama thesis thing – because somewhat like the Muslim rumor, the BO campaign wants Clinton supporters and especially Clinton volunteers to forward it around to make us look racist and by extension, the Clinton campaign.

A friend of mine got it via email, and Confloyd – is this Republican source really someone very close to you because it’s making the rounds via internet – at least in TX?

filberts – I had a friend working the Austin office – and was in touch with others who were helping me coordinate speakers leaving Austin for Houston – so, I get a sense…I also got a sense that the volunteers were fairly separate from the higher ups.

March 31st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
carbynew, I’m just saying that you need an army to make things happen. Obama’s got it so easy. Everything seems so difficult for Hillary b/c no one is on her side. She’s got to fight for everything.

I thought after the whole Wright thing that she’d take the delegates in TX, but people just aren’t paying attention. Maybe they just don’t care. They want Obama and aren’t open to anything negative about that guy.
***************************************************
Filbertsf,

I know…The reason Obama’s people haven’t turn on him, YET is because of the “fairy dust” covering their eyes and how people get their news.

For AA’s it’s living your faith, it’s not an accident that Obama had his pastor leading his outreach program for the African American churches…that why it’s very important to understand TEAM OBAMA is NOT going to quit…WE HAVE TO BEAT THEM DOWN!!!

As for Bloomberg…i was talking about the race for the NY GOv…he will be running…so he is siding up to Obama and the NY AA’s right now !.. the press wants another Hillary bashing thing when they suggest she run for NY gov…
imagine how Patterson or Cuomo must be thinking